Through the Hollow
by Empty Brooke
Summary: Jack Skellington, a happy man living in jelious times. Cut down by the hatred around himwas only the begining. The town of Hallows Eve is under attack and only one can save it. The spiral hill will speak and the answer shall change for the better or worse
1. Prologue

**Through The Hollow**

Prologue

The woman clutched her child to her bosom and smiled down at his face. He was such a beautiful baby. Blonde was slowly coming from the black hair on his head. She smiled up at her husband and showed the joy in her eyes. Their first child was so beautiful. She called her sister over. "Look Marie. He holds the colour of your hair."

"Ah. But he has the strange eyes of an angel." The woman that had delivered him smiled from underneath her white locks and stared down at the infant. "He is a very special child. I suggest that you give him a great name. One to reflect himself."

The mother and father of the newborn agreed. "I say Jack. After you father." She stared at her child and then kissed her husband upon the lips.

He agreed. "Jack is a fine name to go with my son. My father would be proud."

And so Jack was his name.

---

(6 years later)

"Jack! Jack Skellington! You come in right now! This is not a time to be outside! Tis too early and you have not had breakfast!" Marie stood at the door calling out to the boy. She had no reply. She crossed her arms and folded them in front of her. The boy was nowhere to be found. If he were to continuously wander off like that she was sure that one day he would be lost in the woods and no one would be able to find him. She had told the boy that if he strayed to far the wolves would get him but he did it anyway saying, 'wolves? Ha! I'll scare them away!' He would then stare at her or growl in a way most scary. Jack had always had a knack for scaring people. His Aunt Marie pulled her bonnet up some more and called out into the forest once more. The village was right near one and they lived directly up close to it. 'The forest is our backyard' as Jack said. She called to her nephew. "Jack Skellington! Come in the house and have you breakfast! You shouldn't be out without it!"

There was a clunking on the roof of the house above her. The clunks came slowly in ones then with the twos nearly five second afterwards. It was like someone was walking on the roof but with very long strides. A yellow orb appeared over the edge on the roof in front of her and she was startled so much that she crashed into the door and let out a slowed squeak of fright. There was the head of the boy she had been looking for. His pale face with those purple-like eyes and all that blond hair stared at her with a content countenance. She thought that she would have to cut his hair one day. Jack's nose was small as his mouth was long and he had very large eyes like that of a begging kitten. He was near irresistible as a child hoping for a new toy.

Jack smiled at his auntie. "But I don't wish to eat anything auntie. I wish to go into the forest and see my dog friends."

"I said to stay away from the wolves!"

"They aren't wolves." She let out a breath. "They are panthers."

"We don't have panthers here."

"Yes we do. They said that they were."

"Animals cannot talk, Jack."

"This one did."

"Oh?"

"Yes. He came out of the trees I told you about with his friends and said hello to me. At first they said that I would be a tasty snack but then they saw that I was not afraid and they asked me why. I said because I could scare them more so than they could me. Then I did so and they stick to me like my best friends now. I asked him why he had black fur and not grey like the wolves but he wouldn't tell me for a long time. Today he said that he was a panther."

"That is a wonderful story Jack. But now is time for breakfast."

"But I'm not hungry Auntie!"

"You never are Jack." She lifted him down and pulled some leaved out of his hair. "But you're skinny enough as it is and if you continue to run like you do without food in your stomach you'll fall down one day and then you won't rise again."

"Cal says that I will."

"Cal?"

"The leader panther."

"Panther's don't have leaders."

"You mean like they don't stand on their hind legs?"

Her eyes widened. "Why? Do Cal and his friends do that?"

"Yes."

"You are not to see them again Jack."

"Why not?"

"They are not panthers. They are werewolves and they will eat little boys like you. Although I don't know how they came here."

"Through the hole in that tree Auntie."

"Then you are not to go near it again."

"But…"

"No. Now come inside and eat." Jack reluctantly followed his Aunt Marie inside.

"Why can I not see Cal anymore?"

Marie pushed a bowl of grit up to him. "Because Cal is not from around here."

"Well, I know that. He's not exactly normal auntie."

"Precisely why you are not to see him."

"But I am not normal either. Tell me. Do you know ehere Cal is from?"

"Yes… I am afraid that I do…" She lowered herself into a chair across the table from Jack. She looked around the room and remembered that his parents were still asleep. "This is not a story for someone of your age but I shall tell it to you." Jack listened as he ate the grit. "Cal, as you call him, as well as his friends, are from a place known as the Town of Hallows Eve. It is a place where monsters live. They thrive there and they live there and they are not to come to our world until Hallows Eve where they scare the living and then head back to their own place for another year of preparations.

"Each year a few come back to select a human that will be their first victim. I fear that you may be Cal's first. Sometimes they will even take a human child back with them and then they shall turn it into a monster. A horrible creature that cannot ever return to Earth and that will forget who or what he used to be. Then they will be trapped.

"There was one person that came back from that horrible place but he was already half monster and after coming back he died not long after. People called him the elephant man for the fact that his cheeks bulged like ones and he had tusks and very large ears. When he dies they even found a tail and before he was buried his body lit into flames by itself and there was no trace of him left.

"That all happened when I was still a little girl. I don't wish to loose you Jack. Neither does your mother or father. You are the only one that we have and we would cry dearly and pray for you each day if you were to go…"

---

"Cal!"

The heads of the beasts rose from their fresh kill. They could see a young boy of about 6 heading towards them with log legs and a fast pace. His legs stretched out behind and in front of him so that he could move much faster. He had blonde hair and a lovely, pale face with large eyes, a diminutive nose and an outsized mouth. It was their friend Jack Skellington. The only boy that was not, and would never be, afraid of them. Cal, the alpha-male of the group stood on his haunches at the same height as the boy. His black fur glistened with crimson blood from his kill.

Jack approached and didn't seem to care that there was a dead animal close to his friends. He came right up to Cal. "You lied to me."

The deep voice of the beast came out in a surprised tone. "What are you talking about Jack?"

"You said that you were panthers."

"We are."

"No you are not. You are all werewolves. My auntie said so. But that doesn't explain why you are like that every night. I asked auntie and she said that you are not from here. She said that you are from a fairy tale place called the Town of Hallows Eve. Is that true Cal? Is it?"

Cal's eyes widened, as did the eyes of the rest of his pack. They lowered onto their haunches and hurried into the forest. Jack followed. "Cal! Wait!" He followed them through the forest. They passed by many trees. Jack already knew where it was Cal was going. He had to make it there as fast as he could or he would lose them for good.

The werewolves piled into a clearing and each hopped into a large hole in a tree one-by-one. Jack ran through the trees just as Cal jumped in. "Cal! Wait! Please!" The wolf's head popped up and looked at the boy. Jack stopped. It seemed like hours that he stood there staring at Cal. Then the wolf disappeared into the tree. "Wait! No!" Jack rushed forth and stopped at the tree. He put his hand in to check. There was nothing. As quick as he could he climbed through the hole. He expected to fall a long way and end up somewhere that he had never been to. The Town of Hallows Eve? Perhaps. He fell into the tree and… landed on the soil inside. The tree was hollow. Cal had disappeared with everyone and Jack was all alone. He crouched in the tree base and held his knees tight to his chest.

He sobbed quietly to himself and did not leave that tree all that day.


	2. Chapter 1

Brooke: I have a surprise for this fic. Jack Skellington has come to join us. If you don't know who he is go tie yourself up and jump off a cliff. That or you can read my fic to find out. It tells of Jack's living times and then stretches into his life among the living and explains how he came to become the pumpkin king. See if you can guess when it was he was alive. It may be a little bit tricky. I hope to get a fair amount of reviews on this. Please.

**Through the Hollow**

Chapter 1

"Freak!"

"Get out'f here!"

"No'n wants you!"

The blond haired boy felt a rock strike the back of his head. He flinched with slight agitation and then resumed his playing. He lightly picked up the spider in his hands and it crawled along his long fingers. He smiled at it. There was another strike done to the back of his head. The boy turned his face. His blond hair covered a lot of his countenance but you could tell from his expression that the stone had scarcely fazed him and he was only growing more disconcerted. The boy had fairly short blond hair but there was also a lot of it. The hair mostly piled up on top of his head and added to the innocent face that his dark blue eyes gave him. In the sun people could swear that they were purple but no one could ever be sure for if you got close the color would be blocked by your shadow and you would only waste your own time as well as his.

He stared at a group of boys in old clothes. They had pants on and some white shirts but half of them looked to be brown from the fact that they rolled in the dirt like pigs. There were some girls behind them. They giggled as the boys tossed rocks up and down in their hands. One boy in a brown shirt with brown skin threw a stone at him. He rose his arms to his face for protection. The stone bounced off, as did the spider. His eyes widened and he crawled around on the ground looking for it. A girl in a blue dress pointed, laughed, whispered to the other girls and then they all burst into a fit of giggling. The boys followed suit. The blonde boy felt upset but he pushed that aside as he searched for his arachnid friend.

"What're you doin now? Searchin for that bug? What'a watse'f brains."

"Ya. You spend more time wiff bugs'en you do your'n species. Freak."

The boy found the spider and plucked it up from on top of a fall leaf. He twiddled it within his fingers and then looked up at the other children. He gave them a cold stare with his eyes, seeming purple for a moment, then walked away, pleased that he had stared them with a stare. He could do that a lot and he was known for it. He was also picked on for it.

One boy in a white t-shirt and blue slacks ran up to him. He stopped in front of the boy and slapped his hands. The spider fell and the other boy squished it underneath his boot. The blonde-haired boy's eyes widened and he felt his pale face turn beet red. The other boy laughed. "What're you going to do Jack? Look't you." He pointed to various portions of the boy's form as he spoke. "What child'as legs like that? So long wiff a'small torso? Doesn't make sense. And what 'bout those skinny arms you'sa got? So long an skinny. I'bets I could break'em. You've got that ball head of'urs and those ridiculously tiny feets. You look'ike a skeleton."

The others laughed. One girl spoke up. "Ya Jack. You look like you died and came back to get us."

"Maybe he did. Maybe'a witch cast a spell on'im. Maybe he'sn't living anymore."

Children snickered and laughed.

A black boy spoke up. "There's only one way t'know for sure. We cuts him open an we finds out. That's how w'know. We cuts im open an look for blood. Ifs hes gots it then hes living. Ifs he doesn't then he's a witch's pet!"

"But, if you cut me open," the boy protested, "I won't live anyhow."

The one in front of him shrugged. "Betters'for the village, you bein dead an all."

"Get'em!"

"Get t'freak!"

The children chased the poor boy through the forest. He ran fast and hard. His legs took huge strides that pulled him far ahead of them all. He grew tired fast and looked back to see… nothing. He had lost them. All that was around him now were the trees of the forest. The woods had been the only place that he had truly felt safe. Now they had dared intrude upon his domain? Sure the forest belonged to everyone but he felt that those who actually wished to do so should only enjoy it. The others found delight in taking firecrackers and blowing up little trees that had not had the time to grow yet. He hated them for it. They all hated him for the fact that he always blew out the fires. They made fun of him because he caused the forest to live when they wanted conflagration. There was nothing that the other children liked more than when a witch was burned at the stake. They would never fail to notice one. He had constantly ducked into his house and heaved his blanket over his head until his Aunt Marie came to calm him down and tell him that it was all over. She was the only family that he had left after the demise of his parents. His father had been killed in a hunting accident and his mother burned at the stake after being accused of witchcraft when he was 8. He was 14 years old as of tomorrow. The week after would be Hallows eve. His favorite time of the year. He had been ridiculed for that too and people spread gossip that on Hallows eve he would speak with his deceased mother from beyond the grave. He was the boy most hated in the village.

Jack sat down underneath a tall tree and sighed. He was so tired. _Will I maybe get a present this year?_ He wondered. _Will I be wish happy birthday? No… Not possible._ He sighed once more. Jack spotted the creak below him and made his way over to the bridge. He always loved to play there. He hopped up on the railing with a single bound and walled along the side with such precision that you would have thought he had done it a thousand times over. But no. He had done it about seven to that very time. He naturally had perfect balance and he was proud of it.

There was a giggling behind him.

Oh no. They had found him.

Jack lost his balance and fell into the creak. The cold, autumn water soaked up to his waist and he shivered. A stone at the bottom cut his bare foot and he watched as some of his crimson blood seeped out and was carried off by the rest of the water. His black overalls were soaking now and the water came up to his white skirt, soaking that as well. One of the buckles on his two belts came undone. He sighed and looked down in shame. He waited for the laughter to ensue.

"Are you all right?" He looked up. Leaning over the rail was a girl around his age if not younger with black hair tied behind her in a long braid that came down to her bum. She had dark brown skin and she wore a dark blue shirt with blue slacks. Her long bangs hovered in front of her face and he could see the shook that she wore on her countenance. She repeated the question. "Are you all right?" She looked at his bleeding foot and cupped her hands to her mouth in alarm.

He looked back down at his foot and then hurriedly got to his feet. He climbed out of the water. "I'm fine. Not to worry. It takes a lot more than that to hurt Jack Skellington."

She giggled and rushed to the water's edge. When he sat down she immediately took his foot and examined it. She was surprised to find that the bleeding had already stopped and that his blood had already begun to clot and heal the cut. She raised an eyebrow at him. "You heal very quickly."

"It runs in my family."

She smiled and extended her hand to him. "I'm Adine Buhan."

He shook it. "I'm Jack Skellington."

---

The two walked into the outskirts of the city laughing and giggling at one another's jokes. The other children watched them from a distance with curiosity. Soon one boy, Thomas Well, walked over and confronted them with his gang. He looked the girl over and ignored Jack completely. "You ain't from 'round here are ya?"

She shook her head. "I'm new."

"Well, ifs it's friends that yous want don't be talking t'im. Jack's nothin but trouble. Trouble I tells ya. T-R-O-B-L-E ! Trouble!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because he'sa witch likes him mother. And he'sa trouble maker likes him father. And I bets his aunt'll be burned at'te stake too one day."

"Don't you say that about my auntie!"

"Oh ya? An whats're you goin to do Jack? Hit me? I dares ya! I double dares ya!"

Jack hit him.

Tom stumbled backwards and tumbled into a nearby chicken coop. Soon a fight ensued between the boys. Thomas walked away down the dirt road, beaten, bruised and defeated. Jack walked home victorious, content and disappointed. During the battle Adine's father had appeared and whisked her away. Jack was informed that she was moving away again the very next day and so he would never see her again. At least he had an auntie to go home to. She would love him no matter what happened and she would always be there to dry his eyes. Always.

---

That was Jack's life. He experienced depression, joy, victory and disappointment on a daily basis. He lived that way for years in that village. Always hated by everyone. The strange thing was he grew up to be one of the most well-mannered, simple, well-dressed and most handsome adults from that lot of children in the whole township. Eventually the elders began to grow fond of the boy's simple and kind ways. He showed great faith towards everyone and he was always willing to help.

But those few children still hated him. They hated him so much. Especially Thomas Well. Poor Tom hated Jack. Jack took the woman that Tom had fallen in love with away from him. However the skinny boy had never intended on doing it. He hadn't even liked the girl. When Tom asked him why Jack said that he found nothing interesting in her. She cried and Tom fought with Jack. He lost miserably and Jack walked away practically unharmed.

The teacher had always loved Jack best in class even though Tom was a good student. Jack was always a little bit better than him in everything. He was better looking. He was better at playing sports. He was better at winning people's affection. He was a better and kinder person in terms of behaviour. He even had better grammar and a larger vocabulary then Tom or any of the other children from then as a matter of fact. Tom hated him for it but at the same time wished to be him.

Tom hated him so.

---

It was Jack's 20th birthday today.

He took his present from his Auntie reluctantly. He looked at it and then set it on the table. "You really didn't have to get me anything."

"Nonsense!" Marie pushed the present to him and smiled. "Tis your Birthday and on such day you will get something. Tis what you get." She signalled towards the present. "Now, open it."

He sighed and undid the bow. He noticed little holes in the box's sides. He pulled at the white paper on the box and was greeted by a wet tongue that knocked him back off of his chair and soaked his pale face. On him sat a small, black dog with a long tail that wagged at him gaily. The nose shone like a beautiful red in the light yet Jack knew that it was really black. He smiled at the dog. It had a metal chain hanging from around its neck that read 'Zero'.

"Zero. I like that name for you." Jack picked the dog up and rubbed his nose to the canine's. "Zero it is. You shall be a grand companion." He leaned down and hugged and kissed his Aunt Marie. "Thank you Auntie. Thank you so much."

"And you wished for nothing."

He smiled.

---

Thomas Well stared in the window of Jack's house at the brand new dog that he had received. He grimaced with hatred. He had gotten nothing but a few apples that his father had stolen from a few farmers in the next village. Why did Jack always get the better things? He had liked it when they were younger and his father had a job and didn't drink. Thomas had all the toys that he wanted and more whereas Jack had nothing. But he had gotten a good job at the mill and Thomas had wanted it. Jack had the better things now and Thomas had nothing.

He kicked up dirt as he walked by and thrust his hands into his pockets. "That's unfair. Jack' all t'luck. He's taken t'all from me. What'do I've t'show for my bravery 'gainst him? Nothing! He's t'all! And I ain't the only one thinks so." Thomas looked around him at all the children that he had played with. They all hated Jack as well. There were still a few adults that hated the boy but it was mostly nothing. He sighed. "I wants to gets back at'im. Buts how can I do it? How?" Thomas thought and an evil ploy crept into his head. Jack had taken everything from him. Why not take something from Jack? Or two? Take two things from Jack! Or three? Yes! No! Take everything! Like Jack had done to him! It would not take him very long to round up all the necessary people to do it. Maybe a day. Jack would be in a fit by Hallows Eve night. Thomas snickered wickedly to himself and then hurried off to tell the others of his ploy against the troublesome subsequent teen.

---

Brooke: O.o Whoa. Did that guy sound as creepy as that?

Jack: What do you mean?

Brooke: (points to Calumon in corner.) He looks freaked out.

Impmon: That's because Jack practised his maniac pose and laughter on him.

Brooke: Really?

Jack: Sorry.

Brooke: Don't be. Calumon is annoying. In my eyes he needed that to show him how cruel life can be. Speaking of cruel if you can't stand the horrible deeds of jealous people do not read the next chapter. Vengeance comes out in two fold and the people who shouldn't suffer do.

Fiendmon: I think you gave it away.

Brooke: Did I? Oops…


	3. Chapter 2

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 2

The night was cool and cold. Hallows Eve was but six days away. Less than a week. Now was the best time for planned deeds to be taken and ploys to be executed for if they were that close to the night of all Hallows Eve they would surly have great effect on the victim and bend to the desires most needed.

Thomas Well had gathered together a small group of people that hated Jack. The group consisted of the twins, Ben and Becky Hawthorn, Razvan Revan, Akrem Kip, Kurshan Gregarious, Elizabeth Taylor and himself.

They wandered up to Jack's house and Razvan took the first job. He snuck up to the door and took out a piece of loose wire from inside his pocket. He then took a strand of straw and picked the lock of the house with the two inside. He opened the door to the house and allowed the others to make their way inside. The twins headed straight for the kitchen. Becky pulled the herbs and hanging spices that she had out of her satchel. She sprinkled some old sage all over the kitchen floor while her brother, Ben, stood on the very tips of his toes and hung the spice by the ceiling with string. The red haired twins admired their work and left the kitchen in a hurry leaving behind an assortment of goods only a witch would have. Akrem stayed in the hallway as the others made it through the house. He pulled out the slide box he had within his pouch and noticed that it was dripping a little. After confirming that his satchel was clean he set the box on the floor and dipped a brush into the red fluid and laid stroke after stroke onto the bare, wooden walls. He decorated them with the designs and indications of the devil finishing his masterpiece with the number '666' and spilling the remaining contents on the floor. Kurshan Gregarious had the simplest task of them all. He wandered into the kitchen with the twins and carried with him a great black cauldron. He pulled away the original pot that had sat above the snuffed fire and replaced it with the black ore container. He smiled with delight and, using an axe later on that night, smashed the pot and then scattered the pieces into the sump behind the church. Razvan remained outside the house. He took various worms and insects out from a box that he had. A few ticks bit him but he drenched them in alcohol and ripped them off of his skin before dropping them into the garden. Only a person baring the servitude of Satan could bear to stand these creatures near them in the garden. Thomas worked his way around to the back of the house. He took from his bag a group of dead cats, crows, foxes, and one dead pig and one dead lamb and one dead sheep. All had been taken from surrounding villages to work up to just that night. Thomas climbed a tree closer to the house and tossed three cats onto the roof and onto on the ground next to a pile of chopped wood. He set the pig by the door with the lamb and scatters the foxes across the small area. Then he positioned the crows in the tree to look like they had fallen from flight and earlier that day he had burned them with a mirror in various parts of the body. Thomas climbed back down, surveyed the area and, content with the job he had done, left with a sneer on his face and grim mind set for the very next day. Before he exited the house he crossed into the living room and spotted a black dog in a basket of straw. Thomas smiled and wrapped the dog in the satchel that he had. He slung it over his shoulder and took leave feeling even better. The last in the group, Elizabeth Taylor was shy girl that just wished to get through this night and end this horrible deed. She had fallen in love with Jack as an adolescent but he had not loved her in return. He had broken her heart and although she hated him for it she also loved him and it pained her to do such an unspeakable act to him. Elizabeth crossed into Jack's bedroom. She tiptoed across the wooden floor and leaned down on the panels. Her eyes met his closed ones and she was tempted. Oh how she was tempted. She tried her best to suppress her feelings and reached into her front pouch. She retrieved three stones that were half the size of her palm each with strange marking of them carved directly in. She lifted his pillow slightly and inserted them underneath. Jack stirred but he did not wake. Elizabeth could take it no longer. She leaned over and, quick as a rabbit, kissed the subsequent adolescent before dashing out of the room. The small, vengeful group left the house with happy thoughts. They had finally done what they had wished to for all those years of life. They had finally done it and they felt good. Elizabeth crossed to home and sat by her bed that night. She clasped her hands over her mattress and prayed. "Dear god, please, let no harm come to Jack. Merely let him feel the pain he caused me. Nothing more. God bless mother, father, Jack and Aunt Marie. Amen…"

---

Jack raised from bed that morning feeling refreshed and well awake. He looked over to his side and grabbed his clothing. He slipped into his black overalls and put on his white shirt and straw hat. Then he walked out of his room and crossed the hall. However he slipped in a pool of something and landed hard of his side. Jack looked up and shock was all that escaped his face. There, all over the floor, was blood, pigs' blood. It was spilled all over and was written in devil's writing on the walls. He gapped in awe and surprise.

Jack got to his feet and walked to the door. He called to Zero but the dog did not come. He checked his bed but the small, black canine wasn't there.

There was a chanting outside the door. He opened it a crack to see the townsfolk stomping through the street with torches in hand as well at pitchforks and long gaffs fashioned from sticks. Jack knew what was happening. A witch had been found and she was to be burned at the stake for serving Satan. He wondered who could have been found out. Everyone in the village was so kind and he could think of no one that was a witch.

He walked out into the air and stepped on something crunchy. He lifted his bare foot and saw a scorpion. Jack counted himself lucky that he had not been poisoned. He wondered how a scorpion, so far from home, had managed to get into the garden. He carefully lifted his foot and continued on.

There were great chants ahead of him. "Burn the witch!"

"The witch must die!"

"Do not let her take the mind of another innocent!"

An old man with a long face and long grey hair tied back behind his head gripped Jack's shoulder. It was Mr. Smith. Jack sighed with relief. "You shocked me sir. It's not polite to sneak up on the unknowing fool."

"So you call yourself a fool do you boy? Don't. Shouldn't you be in bed anyhow Jack?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't think so. Why do you say that?"

"Because you were being bewitched m'boy."

"Bewitched?"

"Yes. You were told to do things that you may not have wished to and you were told to see things that you did not and told to not see what you weren't supposed to even if you looked at it. You poor boy. Do you feel alright to stand?"

"I feel fine, sir. Thank you. Tell me, who was the one that cast the spell?"

"Why, your auntie Marie." Jack's eyes widened and tears began to form. "You poor lad. First your mother a witch and now your aunt. You were surrounded from birth. Poor lad. Are you all right? Jack? Jack…?" Mr. Smith looked around. Jack was no longer with him.

Jack pushed his way through the crowd of people. They gathered at the centre of the town. He made his way past a black family and then jumped onto a barrel so that he could see that wooden stake and the stand in which the witch would be burned upon. He saw a man in a black man standing on the wood. He could see no one else.

Then the crowed jeered with delight. He looked over to see his auntie bound with roped behind the back. Two men were escorting the struggling woman to the stake. She had been shaved bald and her face was horribly cut and bruised from beats. Jack jumped down and pushed his way through the crowd. He begged to be let through but the crowd would not disperse. He pushed with all his might but he could not make it to her.

He watched from within the crowd as he ran as she was pulled onto the stand and tied to the stake. Jack called out: "Auntie Marie!"

She heard him and called his name back.

Jack pushed through the crowd as best as he could. He was almost there. Two men popped out from nowhere and stood in front of him. They each gripped one of his arms and then pulled him back. Jack struggled against them but he could not free himself. He tried so hard to get free. "Let me go!"

"Calm down Jack!"

"Aunt Marie!"

"She's a witch!"

"You've been hexed to love her!"

"No! Auntie!"

"Jack! Stay here!"

"Jack!" This person was his aunt Marie. She was calling to him with fear in her voice. "Jack! Please! Help me!"

"Auntie! I'm coming!" Tears welled within his eyes. He was crying now, lightly but he was crying nonetheless. He couldn't break free of the men's grasp. He tried so hard, he really, truly did. Jack watched helplessly as the man in the black hood poured the hot oil from a lamp onto her bald scalp. Aunt Marie cried out in pain and Jack cried for her too. The crowd cheered and jeered with joy. A witch burning was the perfect was to start a day within their minds. They had loved her and the minute that evidence came up they turned on her like a pack of ravenous wolves. It was a sick and twisted wave that flowed over the village. Who had once been nice grew horrible in Jack's eyes and prepared to kill. They were disgusting and grotesque not to mention homicidal. He could hear people's thoughts on the matter from around him.

"A witch being burned… Hasn't had one of those for a while."

"Burn! Burn! Burn the witch!"

The crowd began to chant.

"Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"

"NO!"

"Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"

"She's not a witch!"

"Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"

"Aunt Marie!"

"Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"

"Ya! Burn'er good!"

"Burn t'witch!"

"Kill! Kill t'witch!"

Jack began to sob when he saw the children. They were chanting the very same as the grown-ups around them. In an effort to stay within the crowd they had turned against the kindest woman to them. Aunt Marie had given them all apples from the tree she had grown in her backyard and was kind enough to tell them stories each day after the church bell rang if they came to her house. Jack had always loved the children that came. Now he saw them within the witch-burning crowd and all he felt towards them was hatred and antipathy and umbrage.

Torches and lanterns began to move towards the stand. Straw was placed at his aunt's feet and all over her body along with gas from lanterns. A sick person even dared to throw animal feces at Marie. It struck her face and left a large brown mark. The torches around her gathered into a group and the man with the black hood came over to examine each like it was an instrument of torture and he was choosing the best one for the operation of torment that he would be performing for the village that day. Jack struggled towards his aunt within the grasp of those men. He neared closer but not close enough. The man in the hood selected a very large and oddly shaped torch. It was thick at the bottom and the top curved into the flame within a spiral. Jack's eyes widened as the flame approached his aunt. As an evil deed before the sentence the man took the flame and blew it into her tear stained face. She cried with fear at the burning of the flame.

"NO!" Jack suddenly felt a burst of strength. He charged forth towards the stand. He pushed people out of his way to do so. As a block came a head of him again he used his long and powerful legs to leap onto a nearby edifice. He stood there for a moment, surprised that he had gotten so high up within one bound and then rushed along the structures to the edge where he was now facing the centre of the crowd. It was as close as he could get from on top of the structures.

Jack bounded onto the ground and the crowd cleared for him out of sheer surprise. The expression that he wore on his face at the moment was that of a killer. He charged through the gap that had been made for him and went straight for the stand. "I'm coming aunt Marie!" He could hear people calling to him from behind as he ran. Most were muffles out by the rest but he did hear a few.

"Jack! She a witch!"

"Don't do it m'boy!"

"We don't want to hurt you!"

"Jack! Don't!"

_Hurt me…?_

"Jack! Please! Stay away!"

"Get the…"

"Don't hurt him! He's only a lad!"

Jack reached the stand and climbed up. The man in the black hood was stalk still. He had frozen at the sight of that face, that horrible killing face, moving towards him with such speed. He was still as a statuette now. Jack thrust his arm out towards the man and stole the flaming torch from within his grasp. He stood on the stand with the torch in his grasp. He turned to face the frightened crowd. Jack stood with his legs spread wide and his torso leaning in towards the ground. His arms were out and his neck was bent like that of a behemoth grazing the in the pasture by the mountain's base. Jack had never stood like that before and it terrified the villagers into a state of panic.

Within that panic came a shot that echoed through their minds.

**BOOM!**

Everyone stopped at the sound and they shook hard and long with fear.

There was a fizzling sound that came after the sound and to Jack came pain. The pain was in his torso. His stomach to be exact. The blonde man nearly dropped the torch at the pain. He looked down towards his stomach and could see, through the white fabric of his shirt, that he was bleeding. He was not bleeding a little however; he was bleeding a lot. He felt himself get sick and queasy from the pain. Jack coughed up spit and then threw up a globule of blood. He felt the pain twang towards his mind and he fell. Jack fell off of the stage and landed with a hard thump on his side on the cold ground below him. He heard his aunt cry his name from within her fearful sobs for life.

Jack's eyes began to go blurry. He could hardly see anything. Whether it was from his tears of from the pain did not matter to him. All that came to his mind was the fact that he had failed his aunt.

The torch landed dangerously close to his face as his hand fell to the soil. He was frightened once more; this time for his own life. He could feel the heat of the flame bearing down on him and, for that moment, feared that he and his aunt would die at the same time from the same foundation. Fire was such a beautiful thing but when used in an improper way could kill a single person and then an entire village.

Jack closed his eyes.

The burning sensation that he had expected, and secretly wanted, to come did not. The heat on his face dies down and he no longer felt the twang of the warmth on his body. He was cold once more.

He opened his eyes and wished that he had not. The hooded man stood above him and held the torch in his hands. Then he tossed it onto the stand and withered into the crowd. Jack eyes widened as his aunt Marie was burned. He could hear her but he could not see her; he was thankful for that but still wished her to live. He cried out to her but she did not answer, the flame engulfing her mass and writhing at her form muffled her voice.

She was in pain and so was Jack.

Then there was black.

Nothing more…

---

Brooke:'( Poor Jack. I feel so sorry for him. To see that spectacle must have been horrible.

Jack: It was. I still hear her voice.

Brooke: (pats Jack on the back) There, there…

Impmon: Oh! Lighten up! That was… what? Five hundred years ago?

Jack: Three.

Impmon: Whatever… (throws dart at Gallantmon sketch)


	4. Chapter 3

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 3

His head throbbed, as did his side. He tried to sit up but it was too painful. He tried to open his eyes but that was also painful. He could do nothing without feeling pain. He ached all over. Jack eventually opened one eye to the light and looked around him. There was a blank room and a few people in the corner. What had happened to him? He did not know. All he could remember was something about fire, witches and aunt Marie.

Aunt Marie!

Jack felt tears in his eyes. He started to cry. Purple eyes welled up tears and he threw his body upwards. His hands wrapped around his countenance and he cried into his hands. The people rushed over to him. "There, there, Jack. You're free from her control now. There's nothing to worry about. You poor boy. You were surrounded by witches since birth."

"It's ok now you poor lad."

"You've been asleep for about a week now. It's Hallows Eve."

"A fitting day wake from the spell of a witch."

"First his mother then his aunt. You must hate them both for controlling you."

Jack felt anger well up inside him. Where once his pain had been the anger took over. He could feel the heat rising to his pale cheeks. He felt his eyebrows touch the bridge of his nose. Despite his pain Jack turned to the doctors. "You did it…" They backed up at the sight of his expression. His was fearsome in his simplicity. He scared them. Jack was very frightening. His once kind face had turned evil and gruesome. He was grinding his teeth with anger and hatred towards them. They were back up to a wall where he glared at them with disgust in his eyes. "You… You did it…"

"No. No, it was the witches."

"There were no witches! They were innocent! I've kept it bundled up for so long! Now I can't! You'll all pay!"

A man made his way to the window and called out: "Help! Monster! Help!"

Jack snapped out of it. He looked at the frightened doctors. There was a pounding on the door. People were calling inside. They canted things like 'monster,' 'let us in,' 'what's happening,' 'the Jack boy must be stopped,' 'doctors, are you alright' and various things like that. One nurse answered a call. "Help! Jack's still not free! He's a monster! Someone help!" Jack panicked. He stared around the room for an escape. The subsequent teen ended up leaping out of the window and running down the dirt road.

_A monster? Me? How could they think that? I thought that they were accepting me! How is this possible? Who did this to me? My life… it's ruined!_ He headed for the outskirts of town. There was a mob gathering with torches and pitchforks. _They'll never give up until they get me… Damn it all! Why'd I have to live in a town full of idiots?_ Jack hurried into the forest. He thought that he would be safe there. He was wrong.

The villagers followed him close behind and yet not so close for Jack was a great runner. They stopped at the edge of the forest when calls from wlves could be heard. They wished to go in but were afraid. If Jack was really a monster he could pick them all off one-by-one until there was nothing but dead bodies hanging in the trees. Then he would come for the children. A man stepped forth and held his torch to the tree next to him. The crisp autumn leaves lit almost instantly. "The monster has revealed itself, on this, the night of All Hallows Eve. He must be stopped!"

"But we cannot go in there at night!"

The villagers nodded.

"Then we shall not. Light the forest ablaze. We will drive him out. Else he will die in the flames."

Instantly the villagers set to work at burning the forest and the trees. The flames reached up and gripped at the bark. The sparks popped at the trucks of trees like puppies wishing to play. But these puppies had a great bite and could hurt the trees. They did just that. The flames burned the trees and stretched into the centre of the forest. They chased after the fleeing Jack. He could see the fire from behind him but he knew that he could not go back. The villagers would get him. The fire appeared in front of him and he was burned. He was surrounded by flame. He could not get away. Jack let out one more cry before he was engulfed and killed among the flames.

**---**

Jack sat up in bed. His brow was wet with sweat and he was panting heavily. Those words continued in his head. _Monster. Fire. Aunt__ Marie… Aunt Marie!_ He looked around himself and found himself to be in the doctor's cabin. There were some spices on racks for curing the sick and the sink was full of water. There was a wrap of gauze around his stomach and another around hi head.

He lay back down and sighed. "It really did happen. Aunt Marie…" Jack held back his tears. But he wished to cry so. He wished to let it all go and merely sob into the blanket that covered him. He did not such thing. Instead he lay there and thought. He thought about his dream and how it had ensued. He thought about the faces the doctors showed when he came before them. Had he truly been that frightening? It sure seemed that way. Was that how it was for all that looked at him? Marie had told him that his eyes were listless and that he was far too skinny but was any of what he saw in his dream accurate? Did they really think that when they looked at him? Jack's head leaned over and he caught sight of an old mirror. He picked it up and rubbed the dust off so that he could look into it. He saw the face of a handsome, 20 year-old man with lots of blonde hair up on his head. He could see in the mirror that his eyes really were purple if you looked close enough for the glass showed the light, as it should in his eyes. He sighed and put the mirror back on the table. Then he sat up and held his knees. He tried to get up but it pained him to do so. So Jack hung his legs over the bed and looked at the ground.

A light entered the room. He looked up. Standing in a doorway was Thomas Well. He had a large smile on his face and his hands were casually placed behind his back. He walked in a few steps and stared at Jack's wound with concern. "How're yous feeling?" he asked.

Jack shrugged. "I could be better."

"Reallys? That's t'bad…" Thomas walked in and sat down next to Jack. He placed his hand on the blonde-haired man's shoulder and sighed. "You knows Jack. I've always been 'nvious o you…"

"Me? Why?"

"Yous had everythin. Good looks. Good grammar. Good mind…" Tom slapped his own head and then flicked Jack's. "That's why."

"I don't understand that. You always teased me and tried to pick a fight."

"Only cause I wants to be a'strong as yous." He sighed. "Buts that'll never happens…"

"Oh, come now… It may."

"No… That's why I've to get rid'f the problem…"

Jack raised an eyebrow.

Thomas thrust his hand around and jabbed something to Jack's chest. Jack looked down in pain and shook. A knife had been driven into his ribcage up to the hilt. He could see more blood coming from the wound. Thomas leaned over and ripped the dagger from within his enemy and Jack screamed with agony. He tried to stand. He tried to make it to the door but it was no use. Tom tripped him up and Jack fell to the floor, flat on his face. Thomas leaned down and smiled. "Good'ye Jack. I ain't being missin yous." With that he walked out the door pleased with his work.

Jack rose to his feet with much effort. He looked to his right and saw gauze. As fast as he could he rushed his wound tied and walked out. He had to get to her. If he could do that then maybe he could be saved. No one from this village could or would do anything. He walked down the road. People gasped and were shocked at his state. Many tried to help him but he shooed them all away. Soon a crowd began to follow him. They were ready to catch him if he were to fall. Jack stopped a moment and coughed up a globule of blood. He looked down at it and sighed as he continued. He reached the forest and everyone that had been following him stopped. They watched as he disappeared into the dark of the night.

Elizabeth hurried after him with an oil lamp in hand. She caught up and held him arm. He looked down at her. "Why… did you… come?"

"I couldn't let you walk through it horrible place with such an injury. Honestly Jack. Why do you do these things to yourself?"

He smirked and continued.

"Where are we going?"

"I have to see her…"

"Who?"

"The real witch of the forest…"

Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks. She was frightened. Jack continued without falter. Even when he could no longer see he used his available hand to guide him. His other hand clutched at the wound and tried to keep the blood from pouring. Yet it did. Elizabeth ran up to him and continued with him.

They crossed the bridge by the creak and hobbled over a cobblestone fence. The two made it past a clearing and stumbled past many animals that watched as they walked by. Elizabeth tried to make as much conversation as possible. Jack tried to make as little. The journey ensued. One step after the other. One fear after another. It seemed like an endless road. Finally they reached the swamp. Elizabeth had her nose in disgust. Jack did not. He had smelled it before and was used to it. He had been in the swamp water before. He knew what to expect. The man led the girl through the swamp. Jack told her where to place to foot and where to avoid.

The pain on him was increasing. He could hardly go on.

His foot was caught on a root and he stumbled. Jack fell face first into the mud and his wound spilled a new collection of blood. Although he had started to heal it was not enough and the blood poured once more.

Elizabeth rushed to his side and squealed with disbelief. "Jack! Jack! Jack, Get up! You're sinking, Jack! Get up!"

He did not.

She panicked and ran through the swamp.

He could see little flashes of his life. Just little ones. Just the good memories. None of the bad. He didn't wish to see those. He smiled in his mind. Aunt Marie had been right. She said that one day he would die in the forest and there he was, in the very centre, dieing form a wound in his chest, a blow to his head and a gash in his stomach. What a way to go.

The scuffling of feet came up to him fast. There was talking but he couldn't hear. The swamp had taken into his ears now. He was deaf to all but his own mind. Whoever spoke to him knew that though. There was a whisper in his head. _You are not to die here Jack. You have helped me too much… We must find a place where you shall fit in. A place that you would be welcome in. A place that would match how people feel about you to how you feel about yourself…_

One thought crossed his mind.

The voice in his head laughed. _Is that so? All right then… Have it your way. But I warm you… that kind of journey could take a while._

He answered.

_Very well…_

A light engulfed him and his body was swallowed into the swamp.

---

He stood in a patch. A clearing of trees. He had been there before. A long time ago. He couldn't remember very well. There were a few images that passed through him mind from that times. Just a few.

He looked around. The trees were laid of a canvas of black paper and spread with a bristled brush with a wicked brown. The clearing that he stood in was both menacing and calm and it couldn't truly be counted as a clearing because there was only a space of about three metres without trees. But there were trees around him. The ones there each had a hole in them. The one that caught his eye was shaped like an exaggerated apple and had orange around the rim. He approached it and looked within. There was but the base of the hollow tree.

Jack sighed and turned. A gust of wind blew from within the tree. It exited the hole and swirled around his body once. Twice. Thrice. Autumn leaves gathered within it and danced at his feet.

Then he felt pulled. The tugging came from behind him. He looked back and found himself to be plunged into the base of the tree from behind. But he did not stop. It was as though the soil opened up to let him pass because he kept falling. Black and orange swirled in his head and he saw the moon turned from its harvest form to the yellow one now before him. Jack fell and then…

Black.

Just that.

Nothing more…

---

Brooke: Ok! Done! Finally!

Impmon: Ya, but now you have to rake the leaves in the yard. Your dad said to have it done soon.

Brooke: Damn… Anyone want to help? (turns to an empty bedroom) Aw! Come on! (sigh) Well… I'll keep the chapters coming for you at a regular pace so you don't have to worry about me missing up a week or something. I'm on the computer everyday.

Jack: (pokes head into room) It's true, she is.

Brooke:…


	5. Chapter 4

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 4

Black.

He saw that before him.

All black.

Was that it?

Black?

Was he not dead?

Should he not feel good?

No. Instead he felt horrible. It was like he no longer was himself. He felt strange. Empty. He felt… lighter… like all the organs and flesh had been removed from him. He shook the feeling and looked around. He was in a closed space. There were walls all around him. He felt so secure yet also so uncomfortable. He couldn't help but wonder where he was or how he got there. The last thing that he remembered was being the swamp. He fell and the Elizabeth left. There was that voice and then… Nothing.

He heard voices above him. There was a stomping on the wood in above his face. He was lying down. The stomping proceeded, as did the voice. He heard some of what it was saying and he could smell smoke and blood.

"Rise! Rise to us spawn of the devil! Rise and be known!"

_Witches!_

"Rise and serve us!"

_Oh no! I'm being reawaken for evil deeds! Wait__… __Then__why__am__ I __still__ in control? __Why can I still do as I please? This makes no sense!_

"Dude, this isn't working."

_Dude?_

"Ya, I suggest we try that 'sacrifice a virgin idea! Wahoo!"

_They sure don't sound like witches…_

"What do you say before we go we snag whatever this guy has? He's been dead for who knows how long so I think he'll be just bones by now. He may as well. Besides. Maybe he was a really rich guy and lots of money! Maybe it's like in Egypt where they burry the valuables with the body!"

"I guess it couldn't hurt…" There was a creaking sound above him. He stayed perfectly still. He did not move. The lid of the box he was trapped in opened and three people looked in. They didn't look like any normal person but they didn't look like witches either. What were they then? "Hey, this guy looks fake. The bones are so… clean. And white. And what about that ball head?"

_Did he say bones?_

"Oh, well. Let's see what we got here…" One in a bandana reached down and went for inside Jack's skirt.

Jack slapped him away and sat up. "What do you think you're doing?"

The boys backed away very carefully. They looked scared. He sighed. People really were scared at him. Jack got to his feet and looked out. He was in a hole! Buried! He had been in a coffin! He was six feet under! Jack climbed out of the hole and surveyed the area. It didn't look like anything that he could recognize. There were very tall buildings off in the distance. He stared at them. Was he in some sort of witch realm? Was that where he was meant to go? If so, he didn't want to anymore. He just wanted to die again but this time not wake up.

One boy neared closer. He took a position a few feet from Jack and tapped his shoulder. Jack turned around and looked the boys up and down. The boy started to talk but he was interrupted. "Are you witches?"

"What?"

"Witches. Are you witches?" They all shook their heads. Jack rubbed his head. "Well then what are you?"

"Teenagers?"

"Impossible. I'm a subsequent teen and I look nothing like you."

"Maybe that because you should be stiff."

"What?"

"Stiff."

"Why do you say that?"

One boy pulled out a mirror and showed it to Jack. Jack fell backwards in shock. He landed on his bum. He stared in disbelief at the reflection in the mirror. What he saw had not been him. It had been a skeleton. The bones shone bright and the sockets where once there had been eyes were hollow. Jack's eyes were as large as if he had seen something horrible and dies like that or remembered something as he passed on. His mouth was stitched and he was no longer in his usual white shirt with suspenders. He wore a pinstripe tuxedo with a white shirt underneath as well as bat bowtie around his neck that stretched out like the capes on vampires. He backed up and looked at his hands. They were skeletal. He was dead. He was a skeleton! Jack screamed. He leapt to his feet and hopped back into the coffin. The teenagers watched as he lay down and pulled the lid over himself. They all hopped down and landed on the lid of the wooden box. They leaned down and listened to him. "No… no… no… I'm not a skeleton… Thomas didn't stab me… its all a dream… a horrible, horrible dream… I'll wake up soon and be in my room… Auntie Marie will be there too… She has some grit ready for me and I won't eat it… She stands there… Zero will be a live and I'll be alive… Everything will be normal… I just have to wake up… I'll pinch myself… Damn! I have no skin to pinch! I' not dead! I'm not dead! I''M NOT DEAD!"

One of the teenagers spoke up. "Sorry, dude but you are dead…"

"No! I am not dead!"

"Yes, you are."

"NO!!!! I AM NOT DEAD! WHOA!"

Curious, the teens opened the lid. There was nothing inside.

---

Jack broke the surface of the liquid that he was in. He gulped for air but he received none. He had no lungs for which to take in the air. He clamped his hand onto the stone edge beside him and pulled his body out of the water. He noticed then that the water was green and swirled with a fountain with a winged creature statue aimlessly hanging over it from the side and gushing in more water.

He clambered out into the open. He seemed to be in a village of some sort. There were large buildings all around him. They differed from the ones in his town. The sky, when he looked up, was spotted with more stars than he had ever seen and was a deep black with hints of an eerie yellow. The cobblestones that he stood on her cracks and many were missing, showing the bare soil underneath.

As he looked around he found that the entire place was deserted. He could see no one and there was no one to be seen. Jack sighed. He finally ends up in a village that seems normal and there is no one there to speak with. Then again, if he were to attempt a conversation they would cry out with fear at him appearance.

Jack sighed and wandered down the cobblestone pathway. He crossed into an alleyway and noticed a pair of huge black gates up a path of stairs. He walked up and clambered up the stairs with no effort due to his long legs. As he approached the gates he heard a moan behind him. He turned on his axis and saw nothing. He merely looked into the alley for a moment before looking into the gates and seeing a graveyard. It was a fairly simple one except for the facts that many of the tombstones had been badly beaten and a few were completely destroyed. The gates opened by themselves and, as cautious and ready as he found it possible, climbed into the necropolis' area of occupation.

As he walked he found that the graves seemed to stretch on forever. A hill stood ahead of him and so he walked up it with little strain to himself. What he saw shocked his eye sockets. If he had had a heart it would have leapt out of his chest at the sight.

The landscape was littered with graves. Empty or not they were there. The stones stretched out at far as he could see. There was no end. They even went beyond the horizon. There was no end to how far the graves could stretch. The covered the land. That was simple enough to know. And Jack knew it. He tuned his head to the right and saw a smaller section. There were fewer graves in that area and a spiralling hill close to the centre. The graves there were decorated more so. Some had a pumpkin on top and some had angels watching over them. Jack climbed the fence and walked inside to see the tombs of these people. He red the first one: "Here lies Tom the Pumpkin King, 1065-1198. Rekilled while saving Town Hall."

He read the second: "Here lies Harold the Pumpkin King, 0154- 0970. Rekilled while performing "

He read the third: "Here lies Fredrick the Pumpkin King, 0862- 1002. Rekilled while surveying the spirit war."

He read a forth one: "Here lies Dimitri the Pumpkin King, 0957- 1142. Rekilled after one year of ruling due to a tendency to try and save his own skin while in tern running into even more danger."

He read one more: "Here lies Pierre the Pumpkin King, 1118- 1226. Rekilled in a battle between good and evil."

Jack skipped a few and read the last in a circle that rounded the hill. "Here lies Terrance the Pumpkin King, 1861- (there was nothing carved yet) Definitely going to die again at the rate he's going…" Jack raised a brow (or in this case one of his eye sockets narrowed and the other went further up). "There seems to be a pattern here… But why does this thing say the year 1861? It's only 1756… right?"

There was a chime of bells from behind him. Light emanated from within the village. Jack felt a smile broaden his black skeleton face and he found himself dashing out of the graveyard and back to the gates. He was running so fast that he had a hard time stopping and ended up running right into the black gateway. His head passed through the bars as his body hit one. Jack couldn't get his head back through. He sighed. A thought occurred within his skull. Jack angled his body so that it was parallel with the bars and slid through. He smiled as he appeared unharmed on the other side, back in the town, and walked to the edge of the alley where he peeped out into the village. What he saw made him gasp with surprise. (He tends to do that a lot, no?)

"You'll scream!"

"This is Halloween!"

"Red and black…"

"And slimy green."

"Aren't you scared?"

"Well that's just fine. Say it once. Say it twice. Take a chance and role the dice. Ride with the moon in the dead of night…"

"Everybody scream… everybody scream!"

"In our town of Halloween…"

Jack was struck with awe. Monsters and ghouls and devils galore danced in the square of the village. There were werewolves and witches. Ghosts and elementals. Skeletons and devils. Monsters that dripped slime and monsters that had one mouth in two parts. Monsters that had snakes for fingers and spiders in their hair and monsters that had razor sharp teeth and eyes glowing red. Jack smiled with delight. It was wonderful watching them dance. He did just that for quite some time. He even saw monster children join in the fun and bound around in a scary manner. Then a monster with an axe in his head rolled out with a large stuffed serpent and a scarecrow on it's back. The scarecrow jumped to life and surprised Jack. He cheered with enjoyment in the act. The scarecrow gripped a torch given to him by a witch and struck it to his chest. He danced on the serpent for a moment in amazing stunts until the fire engulfed his head. Then he climbed off and onto the serpent hovering over the fountain. He dove off that and did a cannonball into the water. A mummy, dripping wet but drying off fantastically quickly, emerged from the waves of the water and stood on the stone edge with his arms open wide as if to embrace the moon. Every monster there clapped and cheered called out his name, Leon.

Jack clapped too and in doing so failed to see the trashcan by his feet. He tripped over it and there was a loud clanging of metal hitting bone. Jack tumbled onto the cobblestones in front of a two faced, fat man with a hat like a witch on and a spider bowtie. There was a surprised gasp that escaped the voices of the monsters. They stared down at Jack with confusion in their eyes and faces. The man Jack fell in front of helped him to his feet and shook his hand. "Welcome! You must be new! It's been a long time since we had a new arrival! Don't you agree Leon?"

The mummy reluctantly nodded his head and dried off a bandage on his arm.

Jack spoke up. "Um, excuse me. Where am I?"

"Why, Halloween Town of course!"

"Halloween Town? Don't you mean the Town of Hallows Eve?"

The man raised a brow. "No. I mean Halloween Town. No one has called it the Town of Hallows Eve since the 1700s."

"But it is the 1700s. Right?"

"No m'boy. It's near the end of the 1900s."

Jack's eyes widened and he saw blackness in front of his eyes. He hadn't fainted. He had been struck. The last thing that he saw were the monsters and the one called Leon standing above him. Then all was gone.

---

Brooke: Hmm… I wonder who hit Jack. (snickers)

Impmon: You know! Tell me!

Zim: Tell!

Fiendmon: Tell us!

Brooke: Uhh… He knows! (points to Jack)

Jack: Uh… (runs)

Impmon: Get him!

Jack: You'll pay for this Brooke!

Brooke: (snickers and starts to type up next chapter)


	6. Chapter 5

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 5

Jack rubbed his eye sockets. He felt inside and sighed. He had hoped that it was all a dream but when you reach into your own eyes and find that there's nothing there you can usually count that you are indeed dead and you're not dreaming. Jack had done just that.

He looked around. He was in a tall room; a tower perhaps? There were bare walls all over the place and he had slept in a bed that consisted of a thin mattress on the floor like the fashion done in Japan. He rose up and looked at his skeletal hand. He hadn't noticed before but he had lost a finger on each hand and now he only had four. It looked slightly animated as well. Jack put a finger to one of his teeth. They weren't dull but they weren't very sharp either. He found that his scull would move and shape itself depicting his emotion and he was glad for that because he did not wish to have a bland and expressionless face.

Three days.

That was how long he had been in Halloween Town. On the first day he had met the townsfolk and discovered that he was, in fact, dead. On the second day he had been given a house to live in. He would have to work to pay for it but they let him live in it even so seeing as he was a new comer and he had no money to give for the house. Now he had slowly come into the third day. The day was dreary like each other, the sky did not falter. Apparently Halloween Town rarely had much climate changes but when it did it was either fog or rain. Yet more bleak to add to the sorrow of the place. Jack sighed.

He climbed out of bed and pulled his tuxedo from off of a pole he had hung it on the night before. He slipped it on and walked down the stairs. Jack found a new thought appear in his head with each movement downwards. The first step came and met the underside of his foot. _I can't believe I'm really dead…_ The second stair came. _200 years… _The third. _That's how long I was in that grave…_ The forth. _I can't find aunt Marie though… _The fifth. _And what of Zero?_ Sixth. _What happened to him?_ He set down on the seventh. He was going in a spiral. _Then again… what happened to me?_ The eighth stair came. _The last thing I remember was the shot of a gun… _The ninth. _Then I woke up in the cemetery…_ Tenth. _That bullet could have killed me…_ Eleventh. _But something doesn't feel right about that…_

There was a screech!

If Jack had had skin he would have jumped out of it.

It was the doorbell.

"I really have to get that fixed…"

He hurried down the last few steps and walked to the door. There was another screech before he opened it up. There stood the mayor of Halloween Town; the fat man Jack had met on his first day. He smiled up at him with a beaming grin. It was either that face or the worried one that was, currently, the back of his head. He had no emotions otherwise. "Good morning Jack!"

"Good morning mister mayor."

"I trust your moving in well?"

"Well… that's not exactly the term that I would use…"

"Oh, pish posh. You're moving in much better and much quicker than I did when I first came. I must have stayed in that graveyard a few days before I realized that I wouldn't die of starvation…" Jack was stunned a moment and then quickly let it pass him by. "I just wanted to help you out a little. I have a guide here that can show you around the place. Took me a while to find her but I did. Oh, she's the best guide in town. A little different from what you know but… well… I supposed everything is different from what you know here. Isn't it Jack?"

"Yes. Mister Mayor."

"May I come in?"

"I don't know how…"

The mayor walked in the front door and into the house. Jack's eye sockets went wide. He looked at the mayor then at the door then back at the mayor. "I don't know how you did that…" He examined the doorframe as the fat man made himself comfortable on a sofa that Jack had in his living room.

"Nothing is what it seems in this town dear boy. Come sit. I want you to meet your guide."

Jack reluctantly moved away from the door and sat in a chair opposite the mayor. He placed his hands on his knees and leaned down so that he was eye-to-eye socket with the short, obese man. "Ok. When will I have the privilege of meeting her then?"

"Well, right now Jack. I said that I wanted you to get around the town as soon as possible. Didn't I?"

"No."

"Oh… Well I should have. Anyway. I have her right here with me…" The mayor reached into his coat and pulled out what looked to be a jar with a brown covering over top of it. He unwrapped the twine that held the brown fabric on and then pulled it off. Jack looked into the jar too see a tiny creature with long, spiked, black hair. The creature had two wings that looked to be torn and ruined from wind and it had a pale body covered by a black cloak that came to its stomach, a grey shirt and black pants. The mayor unscrewed the jar. Jack could see no holes for air and so he assumed the creature was dead. But then again, everything was dead in Halloween town. The creature's wings jutted out with surprising speed and the creature itself flew out, stretching its arms to the open space. Its body grew as it emerged but it was only as tall as a child when it came out completely. The mayor smiled and looked back to Jack. The creature followed his gaze. "This," he said, "is Yulee. She's…"

"A pixie?"

"No. Yulee is not a pixie. She's a dark guardian. What humans may refer to as brownies or sprites can turn evil or vile in some way in their life. Then, when they die, the creature reappears as a dark guardian if it did not fix the problem that it had in life. Most of the cases it never happens, that's why humans have never heard of dark guardians. There are so few and so hard to catch that it would be a miracle if a human even caught a glimpse of one. Yulee, come on down. This here is Jack. I want you to show him around the place for me. Will you?"

The dark guardian touched her small, bare feet to the ground. She leaned over and examined Jack up and down. Yulee stopped at his eye socket and looked through. She smiled. Her voice, when she spoke was so soft yet so hard and there was a hint of distaste and loath in her tone but it seemed so normal that Jack didn't take that the hatred was to him. "I can see a lot in you but you're lucky that I can't see into your soul." She lifted into the air again and then went to the door. Yulee opened it and then beckoned to Jack. "Will you be joining me any time soon?"

---

"A dark guardian?"

"Yes."

"I've never heard of one of those before."

"Like the mayor said, dark guardians are too tricky for humans and we come in too few amounts."

"Do you know how many there are?"

"No. Now, can we continue with the tour?"

"Of course. Sorry."

"It's no trouble at all. Ok. Here we have the Halloween town square as you can plainly see from the fact that we are in a ring of buildings. The fountain there," Yulee pointed to the winged serpent, "is our view into the real world. On Halloween it's how we check up on the mischief that our town citizens are causing. We can also use it to look into varying places outside Halloween town. Say the old mansion beyond the graveyard. We would be able to see that." Yulee led Jack over to the fountain and had him gaze into it. His eye sockets widened as the green fluid of the pool began to swirl into forms of colour and light, exposing a run down old house with shattered windows attached to a towering tree. Yulee smiled at him. "It had been abandoned for years up until Leon moved in. Now he lives there himself. He doesn't let anyone go onto his property and if they were to do so he would find them and drag them into his dungeon. We think he has a total of 17 Halloweenies in his house."

"Why does no one complain to him then? If he is the pumpkin king then surely he would do as his subjects wished."

"It doesn't work like that Jack. Leon's a fierce ruler. We're not really sure how he became the pumpkin king though. He appeared in town one day and seemed to be pretty ok with his surroundings. Leon claimed that he had been dead for quite some time and so he had taken the opportunity to wander around the grounds.

"He said that while wandering in the graveyard he spotted a disturbance. When he came he could see the people of the town being tormented by the one who wished to be the pumpkin king himself, Dark. An entity so grotesque that he hinds his own face behind a face to conceal himself.

"Dark had tormented the town for a while, demanding to become the pumpkin king. When he left for the day we all knew that he would be back in a week or so. But he never came. Leon appeared in town a few days after Dark was meant to come looking beaten, bruised and bloodied. He had been in a fight and he claimed to have slaughtered Dark.

Of course the town was overjoyed to hear of the wondrous news. They immediately appointed Leon as the king and he took his newfound power with great pride. He commanded us to do many things. Sick of his actions what dark guardians living in the town retreated to the forest to get away from him. Leon has no power there so we knew that we would be safe."

Jack leaned on the fountain and placed his elbows on the stones in from of him so that he could have his skull rest in his skeletal palms. "So, I take it that Leon is not a very good king, is he?" Yulee shook her head. "Why doesn't the town protest to him?"

"Considering that Leon killed Dark, the most powerful creature in Halloween town, they dare not oppose him. The town's people believe that he could kill them all quickly and so no one will confront him. He's far too scary."

"He doesn't look too scary to me…"

"Well he's… Eep!" A tuft of black smoke consumed Yulee's body. Then she disintegrated and Jack was left alone in the courtyard.

"Yulee? Yulee?"

"Yulee?" came a harsh voice. "That sounds like the name of a dark guardian I once met." Jack spun around to be confronted by the pumpkin king, Leon. The undead mummy stood tall and proud, around the same height as Jack if not taller. His bandages all for his left eye, which poked out and glared at Jack, covered his face. Leon's chest plate was coloured deep blue today and he wore it conceitedly with his grieves and ankle supports. That strange black eye glowered at Jack. "You wouldn't happen to be with a dark guardian would you?" Jack did not answer. "I dislike dark guardians being in my town. Do you have one with you?" Jack shook his head. Leon came close and examined him. He snarled and then slinked away and disappeared beyond the light of the pumpkin faced sun.

Jack breathed out.

The tuft of black smoke reappeared at his feet and Yulee leaned against his leg, exhausted. She breathed out and in heavily and then slumped to the ground. Jack followed suit and sat down at the edge of the fountain. He looked down at the tiny child. "Where in Halloween town did you go?"

"I didn't go anywhere. Dark guardians have the power to conceal ourselves if the nedd arises and the need arose."

"Why are you so out of breath then?"

"We can only do it if we hold our breaths and I'm not accustomed to doing it for so long as of yet."

"You should practise."

"I plan to. By the way… I thought you said that Leon had to be confronted. Your chance came and you did nothing?"

"I… uh…" Jack hung his head and placed his elbows on his knees so that his arms hung between his legs. "I couldn't. He was just so… so…"

"Scary?"

"Yes/ Usually I can scare anyone that I want to. All they would ever have to do was look into my eyes and they would run away."

"But you don't have eyes anymore."

"That's my problem…"

---

"Here we have the graveyard. The tombstone for each person on the planet stretches beyond the horizon right over there. For the people where no stone was placed a tree grew to commemorate them and if you chop off a branch then you can read the person's name from under the bark." Yulee pointed to the endless bone yard that Jack had seen when he first came to Halloween town. "That is why there are so many."

"That explains it. I thought that a war had happened."

"Well, wars did happen. Two of them. Humans called them World War 1 and World War 2. Many people died in those. From what I know it was over 40 million."

"That much?"

Yulee nodded. She walked over to a gateway and leapt over the brick wall that separated them from a differing graveyard. "This here, holds the graves of Halloween town's past kings."

"That much I gathered."

"We haven't had all too many kings seeing as they cannot die like normal humans and so go on living. The people of Halloween town are hoping that Leon will die again so that he will become and ghost and therefore will not be king any more."

"A ghost can't be king?"

"Of course not! Otherwise anybody could be a king. There'd be far too many to choose from if that scenario came up. Besides. We try to discover the ones that tend to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Leon killed Dark, that fact alone made him stand out greatly. That's the only reason he became king. If he had not killed Dark then he would just be another person in Halloween town living his life out normally. Well… If you can call Halloween town normal."

"I don't think that I've lived here that long to refer to it as that." Jack looked up. "What's that?"

Yulee followed his gaze. Her red eyes landed on the spiralled hill that swirled in on itself and stretched above the pumpkin patch just before the forest and just after the king graves. She turned back to Jack, lifted into the air and pulled him along with her. At that moment Jack thought that Yulee looked like a child pulling her friend into something that would be of great fun. She led him to the very peak of the hill and Jack suspected that he could fall off if he swerved too much. "This," she said stretching her arms out to exaggerate her point, "is called Spiral hill. Legend says that a very special person can walk up to the edge and step forward and then the hill will catch them before they fall to a hurtful grave. That person would be able to scare anybody if they ever wanted to. It's said that they would be able to scare the pumpkin king himself. But no one has been able to do it since Dark and Leon. Why don't you try?"

"No. I don't much feel like being a ghost. I'd rather be a skeleton any day seeing as I can no longer be a human. Why don't you give it a try?"

"I have…" Yulee alighted on the very edge of the hill and leaned over to see beyond the point. She extended a foot with her eyes closed and stepped down. Jack nearly fell off when she tumbled down. Then she flew back up and stood in front of him. "The hill will not except me. I am not frightening enough for it. I cannot scare the pumpkin king. I wouldn't even be able to do it if my wings depended on it. I'm just not scary enough. But you Jack. You have potential. I can see that just by looking at you. Won't you give it a try?"

"Can you catch me if I fall?"

Yulee thought for a moment. She took off and flew behind Jack. Yulee reached under his bony arms and lifted. Her wings flapped rapidly behind her as she beat and tried to get the air required to life back up. The effort was to no avail, as she could not lift Jack. Yulee touched back down in front of him and sighed. "No," she said hanging her head in shame, "I cannot."

Jack, seeing her distress, placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked to it and then up to his grinning skull. "I shall make a deal with you. If you try as best as you can and gain the energy that you need to lift me up then I shall take the Spiral Hill's test and step off the edge. Do you accept?" He held his other hand out to her pale face.

Yulee thought for a moment and then gripped it. She shook hard and smiled. "I accept."


	7. Chapter 6

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 6

It had been about a month now from when Jack had first arrived in Halloween town. He had been able to find a high pay job. The only reason it paid so high, however, was for the fact that no other person in Halloween town wished to do it. Therefore it had been put off for a long time and there was much more to do than there should have been.

The job was hard and it took a lot of work and patience. Most of the townsfolk didn't have all too much and so they had not done it. The employment required Jack to wander out into the graveyard each day and dig up as many of the graves that he could. Once a ghost had appeared he would have to chart down the ghost's first and last name as well as how many siblings they had had when they were living, when they were born and when they died. The occupation took a great amount of work and Jack was always tired at the end of the day but he stuck to it like glue and always lived… well… died… up to the expectations of the mayor. Each day at dawn Jack would awaken and walk out to the graveyard with a shovel and his clipboard in hand. He would dig until noon, take a short break and then continue up until eight o'clock at night. The skeleton was exhausted each day when he came home and most of the time he had no time to eat and instead would merely drop into his floor bed and fall asleep then and there.

It was morning once more in Halloween town. The pumpkin faced sun was rising over the horizon and its shines were reflecting off the town. Jack rose his head to the window as he sat up in bed. He stretched his arms and yawned. He had been surprised when he saw how large his mouth could be and he had spent quite some time in front of the mirror looking at the many forms that he could form his mouth to. There were a wide variety and when he showed Yulee and giggled with delight saying that he looked very scary like that. Somehow Jack had felt proud at that moment.

Jack whipped the blanket he had on off and walked down the stairs from his tower into the living room at the base of his house. He had paid the full payment about a fortnight previous to that day but he continued in his job for it gave him a reason to see Yulee and talk with other people. By other people I am referring to the ghosts that he would question for his occupation.

The skeleton gripped the shovel that he used, which had been left by the door the night before, and took the clipboard off of the skeletal coffee table. The table had been bought not long ago because Jack found that he much enjoyed it for some reason and it matched the gloom that was his living room. But he didn't seem to mind the fact that his house had no joyous charm to it. He felt that it matched the way people used to look at him while he was still alive.

Jack took hold of the door's handle and pulled it open to be greeted by the warmth that always came to him in Halloween town. That fact alone surprised him for he had always thought the town to be cold with the hatred of people's hearts but it was warm each day and the townsfolk were kind to him. They weren't mean at all. It was only their job to scare people and that was not who they truly were. Jack closed the door and walked down the steps as he rubbed the sleep from his eye sockets. He crossed the town square. As usual, there was no one in sight. Although the people were very kind to him Jack found that he hardly had a chance to see any of them at all. Yulee had promised that she would convince the mayor to let him have a day off so that she could take him around the town for a good day or so.

Jack looked forward to that day.

He exited the town and wandered into the smaller graveyard. He followed along with the light of the lanterns illuminating around him. The endless bone yard would not be too far away. He leapt over a stone fence and spotted it. Jack walked forward he plucked a lantern off of the ground and put it up close to another. He placed his bony fingers upon the tab that was used to lift the candle and then held it up to the candle in his own lamp. The fire took hold of the wick and Jack placed the tab back in the lantern. He pulled his finger back in sudden surprise and placed it in his mouth. Although he was dead and he had no skin Jack found that he could still feel pain and so he acted as he would if he were to be alive. Carefully and cautious around dangerous materials.

Jack continued into the bane yard and went past the graves that he had done before. He found that he was slowly growing stronger. While he had been a scrawny man in life and was still scrawny he could build up strength and grow stronger as he worked away the days. Even if he could see no muscles he always felt that there would have been a difference if he had skin to show him the results. He was very pleased with himself.

He passed a great number of dug and re-buried graves that he had done before. In order to mark what ones he had done and what ones he had not Jack would always put a large X on the grave soil to show that he had already confronted the spirit beneath. Jack walked to the very last X and then continued beyond it to the next grave. He struck the shovel into the hard soil and pulled up a good amount in it. He pushed the dirt away and went form more. This process continued for quite some time.

**Thunk**

Jack lifted the shovel and put it to the side just outside of the hole. He leaned down, his feet still on the outside of the grave, and used one hand to open the coffin as his other steadied him. The lid opened and Jack's eye sockets met two rotted eyes with a rotten face. He sighed. "You should have come out of there a while back…" The person looked up and him and his eyes went wide with fear. The man screamed and backed up as far as he could. He met the side of the grave and immediately began to climb out of it. Jack stood up and watched the man try to get out. The walls were too high for him. Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I don't get what's with you zombies. You always seem to get stuck in your graves."

The man stopped. He turned and Jack could see long black hair tied in the back with a ragged piece of twine. It was a style that was coming into fashion while he was still alive. The man wore a green shirt and brown pants with only one shoe. His mouth was stitch together with thread. Jack knew that. A witch had done it to keep the man quiet from what he had seen and made it so that he could not speak in the afterlife either.

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. The man flinched backwards and fell onto his bum. The skeleton reached down and passed the knife to him. The zombie looked up to Jack with a confused expression but Jack merely placed a long finger across his mouth. The man pulled the knife along the threads. The worn material they were made of broke instantly and he coughed out dust as he breathed. The man coughed a few times and then looked to Jack. "It was Winifred that killed Harold! Not Paul!" Jack smiled. "Oh… I'm sorry. That's just came out…"

"That's alright. Now…" Jack pulled out his clipboard and his pencil. "I need your name, the amount of siblings you had while you were alive, when you were born and when you died." The man gave him the information he needed. "Billy Hill it is then. I am Jack. Jack Skellington." He outstretched a bony hand to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He shook his hand. "Likewise."

"If you go on that way, following the lanterns," Jack pointed the way he had come, "then you'll come to a town. Perhaps you have heard of it. The Town f Hallows Eve?"

"I have heard of it. But that is naught but a fairytale."

"No. It is a real place. Now, if you are to head for the town then ask for either Leon or the mayor. Leon is the pumpkin king and the mayor will help you to find somewhere that you could live until you earn the money to either buy it or move."

"So I am to live here now?"

"It's either that or you wander into the forest." Jack pointed to the paint-spray trees.

Billy shook his head. "No. I think I'd much rather live in a house any day." Jack helped him out of the hole. Billy headed in the direction that Jack had said. The skeleton watched him walk away before he refilled the grave and went onto the next.

---

Billy looked forward. The lanterns seemed to stretch for a very long time. He sighed and then continued.

"You don't wish to walk that far?"

Billy stopped. He looked around him. The graves were silent as death and the sky was still. He was the only person that he could tell was there. Naught a leaf stirred and naught a person walked up to him. He flinched a moment with slight fear and then walked on.

"If you tell me where Jack is then I can take you right to town."

Billy stopped once more. He felt frightened but he spoke up nonetheless. "He's…" He pointed the way that he had walked where the lanterns met the horizon. "He's over that way. Now… Whoever you are… please leave me be. I do not wish to speak with anyone right now. Especially someone that I cannot see."

"Oh? You wish to see me?" Billy was pulled back suddenly. He felt his arm being pulled behind him. As he looked back he found that a black smoke that covered over his hand and stretched was enveloping him to his shoulder. He cried out in panic, desperately trying to free himself. But his effort was to no avail for the smoke enveloped him and he found that he was pulled far away from where he was. In what direction he was headed he did not know.

He opened his eyes.

Billy was standing in a town square unlike that he had ever seen before. He was seated on the stone edge of a winged-serpent's fountain and his bare foot touched down to meet cobblestones. He looked around at the strange buildings around him. "This is…"

"The Town of Hallows Eve as you may refer to it as."

Billy looked up. It was a pixie or… something relatively close to one. The creature was bathed in black fabric with stained, dark hair and skin as pale as the moon itself. The wings of the creature were torn and bony. It was the size of a mere child with naught but bare feet beneath its pant legs. She flew into the air and touched down in front of him. Billy flinched back and nearly fell into the flowing green that came from the serpent's mouth. The creature held his arm so that he did not fall in. He looked back to her. "What do you wish of me?"

"Nothing. You already answered what I asked of you." The child extended her arms far out to her side and jumped into the air as she spun around once. When she landed she placed a hand to the cobblestones with her other extended out to the side and disappeared in a tuft of black smoke.

Billy stood up and looked around. The streets were near empty. He could see one figure wrapped in the black of shadows. Billy walked up to the man. "Excuse me. Could you please tell me where I could find the man known as the pumpkin king?" The man looked up and glared at Billy.

---

"Boo!"

Jack fell backwards and landed in a coffin. The spirit that had been there floated out of the way seeing as it could not catch him.

Yulee was floating above Jack, a smile on her face. "Scared you!"

"There is a fine line between scaring someone and startling someone. You startled me."

Yulee frowned. She fluttered next to Jack. "How many have you done?"

"It's a new record. I've done twelve so far."

"Why are you so exited? You get better everyday."

"Yes, I know, but it should always make you feel pride when you accomplish something that you never thought you would. For example: when I was alive I was a very scrawny man with no muscles…"

"That hasn't changed."

"Regardless. I never thought that I would be this strong… Then again. That brings me back to the quarrels that I always had when Thomas was near."

"Thomas? Who was he?"

"A man who claimed to be envious of me."

"What about him?"

"Each day when he saw me and found that there were no people near by he would challenge me to a fight. I would always win and yet he had muscles whereas I had none at all. It was quite unnerving for a while. Then he decided to 'get ride of the problem'."

"He's the one that killed you?"

Jack nodded.

"Well he doesn't sound like a very nice person, now does he?" Yulee and Jack were surprised by the fierce voice. They turned their heads to a near stone fence. Leaning on it with his arms was the pumpkin king, Leon. He was holding his elbows and his knees were locked out so that he was practically bending down. But the fence was just high enough so that his back would stay straight when he looked at them. Today his chest plate was a plain white but less so than his worn bandages. It was hard to tell his facial expressions from behind his covering but at that moment Jack could tell that he was smiling. Leon had on a purple headband that wrapped around his head and allowed two long strips of fabric to hand down far below him close to his knees. (Sound like anyone? If not continue. If so laugh.) His plain, black eye stared out from above and below the gauze dressings. "Killing you because you were better than him at a few things? He doesn't seem sound in the head if you ask me…" Leon tapped his head a few times.

Jack pulled himself up and smiled. "Good day to you Leon."

"Is that a dark guardian with you Jack? You should know by now that I don't much care for them in my town. I believe that she is breaking the law."

Yulee flew directly up to him. She landed on the brick and Leon jumped back a little with annoyance. Yulee frowned and glared up at him with her hands on her hips and her legs crossed. "With all due respects _your highness_ we are not really in Halloween Town so I am not truly breaking the law. If I am outside of the city boundaries then I am free to do as I please. As long as I do not come past Spiral Hill's boundaries then I am not in town and, since I am far from the boundaries, I am not in town and not breaking the law."

Leon's eye closed with joy and he laughed. "You are a very perky little one. So much to say for someone so young. Perhaps I should lift the ban on dark guardians entering the town. Your company would be great and I am sure you could lift the dreary glow that envelops the town." Leon extended his hand and patted Yulee on the head. She remained still with her arms crossed and then sat down facing Jack. Leon looked a little hurt in the eye. He leapt over the fence and sat down next to her. "Oh, yes. I am sorry for banning your kind. Let's just say that I was never quite fond of dark guardians whether they were tricky kind or whatever." He pulled Yulee close and rubbed her head as he held her neck with his arm. "Come on child. You have to laugh at some point. I'm not as stuffy of a king as people think me to be."

Yulee laughed. Jack smiled at seeing her happiness. He waved good day to the spirit he had confronted and piled the dirt back into the hole that he had dug before crossing the few graves over to the fence and sitting down on the other side of Yulee. Leon let her go and seemed to smile at Jack. The skeleton smiled back. "So, they all say that you are a terribly scary one Leon. Would you mind if you showed me? I'm a little rusty."

"You? Rusty? Perish the thought Jack. You're a skeleton and I have heard that you were quite scary in your times when you were alive."

"It was mostly my eyes that did the scaring. All I would have to do would be to stare."

"Oh, I see. No eye means no fright is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, I can't allow that to happen to one of my subjects. I'm feeling rather good today." Leon rose from his seat on the fence and looked back to Jack. "What if I were to teach you some skills at scaring humans every once and a while?"

"That would be greatly appreciated Leon."

"Yulee is it?" Yulee nodded. "I want you to teach Jack to speak the same English as humans of today. You know, the English littered with slang. I am hoping that by the time I have finished with Jack he will be able to go into the human world and scare for the first time. He will be the very first new comer to do so. Would you like that Jack?"

"Oh, very much sir."

"Then it's settled! I shall teach you what I know so that you'll be the first new comer to go to the real world!"

Yulee was so happy that she jumped into the air and flipped twice. "That would be great Leon! You must be feeling very good today!"

"Well, let's just say that I found a good amount of spirit."

---

Brooke: Ok, next chapter done. Oh, and guess what peoples. I'm doing an article about fanfiction for my school newspaper.

Jack: Yes. But it's due Monday… Today is Saturday… You still haven't gotten back any answers for the e-mails that you sent out and you haven't started the main plot of your article.

Brooke: I have too! I was thinking it all over when I got the assignment! I've been running ideas through my head!

Impmon: Ya. Sure you have… Heh heh

Brooke: (Frowns) Well… I'll be on the computer doing chapters so I'm sure I'll do it on time and if I don't I'll write it during French class. I already did grade nine French. Remember? I went into extended.

Impmon: Oh ya. So you get a year of relaxing and plain doodling in French then?

Brooke: Yep! And for everyone that still has to do French… Suckers!


	8. Chapter 7

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 7

Jack sat up in bed again for his day. He was very excited about this day. It had taken her another two months but Yulee had finally convinced the mayor of Halloween town to allow Jack a day off. The fat man's decision had been made for the fact that Jack had progressed much farther than he had first anticipated and he was quite proud. Because of this Jack was allowed one day to wander the town before he had to continue work.

He took hold of his clothes and slipped out of his bed outfit, which he had bought not too long ago. Although sleeping in a birth outfit was comfortable it didn't really seem too practical nowadays. Jack slipped his tuxedo on and walked down the stairs. He didn't much feel that he had any use for eating anymore and he could not longer taste as many foods as he used to be able to. Yulee had given him a strange food that she had taken by quietly slipping into the human world. She had called it a hotdog. He found it strange to eat man's best friend but he did as she said. He couldn't taste the bread at all. All Jack could tell was there were the condiments and he could taste the meat only when it was hot. The mustard, he found, stood out profoundly. He discovered that day that, although he could not taste too many foods like bread, he could still taste the foods that would have stood out to him if he were still alive.

There was a screech at the door. Jack had, still, not had any time to fix the doorbell but it was growing on him with each ring. He found that after two months he could stand it and perhaps only jerked slightly if he was doing something that took concentration like stacking cards or reading. Other than that he seemed to be fine with it.

Jack opened the door and there stood Yulee. She was smiling at him from under her long, black bangs. The rest of her hair was tied up on her head that day and she was, amazingly, wearing a blue t0shirt. It was dark blue but blue nonetheless. Jack had never seen her with anything other than black on. He raised a finger to speak. She raised one in turn and made him stay quiet. "What do you say to someone in the morning?"

"Good morning."

"No." She flew up and knocked him on the scull a few times. He could hear the ringing even though he had no ears. It was like an echo seeing as he was now hollow. "Nowadays people say either 'Hello', 'Hi', 'G'morning', or 'how ya doin?' Got it?"

"I think so…"

"So. Hi Jack."

"… G'morning?"

"Right!"

"I find that to be an awfully strange way to speak. Slurring words like that? It makes me sound like Thomas. He always had a problem with slurring words that didn't seem like it was possible for them to slur. Good Morning. I never thought that it was possible to slur that until I met him. He said that I have good grammar and yet here I am speaking just like him."

"You'll get used to it. Are you ready to go? Leon's coming with us. We're meeting him at the fountain in the centre of town."

"Oh really? Leon's coming?"

"Didn't I just say that?"

"Yes. You did. But I thought that he would have a lot of work to do."

Yulee shook her head. "No. Not really. If you ask me, it seems pretty easy being the pumpkin king. All you have to do is scare people once a year, put on a performance the same day and then it's smooth sailing all through the rest. The mayor acts as though Halloween is the most important day of the year. In my opinion, it's your death day."

"Don't you mean birthday?"

"No. We don't celebrate birthdays in Halloween town. We celebrate death days."

"I guess that only makes sense."

"When did you die?"

"If memory serves… I died on Halloween."

"Lucky! That's the best day to die!"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You say that as if dying is a good thing."

Yulee fluttered back to the ground. She put her legs together at she placed one hand on her elbow and the other on her lips with her index finger rubbing against the side of her small nose. "Well, I don't think that death would really be considered that. It's just that when I was alive I always though that Halloween would be the best day to die. I heard that on Halloween, if you were to die, it was only inevitable that you would come to Halloween town."

"Really?"

"Ya."

Yulee led Jack down the stairs and through the gates of his house to the town square. The streets were busy with monsters and ghouls bustling about all over the place. Quite a few of them stopped when Jack came out with Yulee. They starred at the Dark Guardian and then at the skeleton with a questioning look. They all knew that Dark Guardians were not allowed in the city but the newcomer had gone ahead and done it. Most considered that he did not know the law seeing as he never spoke to anyone. Others went ahead and assumed that he was a troublemaker and had broken the law on purpose.

Jack caught their stares. His shoulders hunched up close to his chin with discomfort. The staring eyes pierced through him hard. Yulee merely continued on to the fountain. She reached it, leapt up and patted the side for Jack to sit down. He shook his head and decided to stand.

Many more stopped moving.

It was like everyone was watching him. Starring at him.

Jack was able to catch a few words of what they were saying. There were two witches speaking to one another in the corner and he caught on to what they said. "… Does he not know that Dark Guardians are banned from the town?" came the voice of the smaller one.

"Regardless if he does or not Leon will be mad at him. He'll probably destroy that dark guardian too. It's a shame. She looks like such a nice one too."

"Yes. It'd be a shame to lose another. Did you know that they're all disappearing from the forest?"

"I heard. What do you think is causing it?"

"I'm not sure, but have you noticed that Maggie isn't around either? She disappeared right after the dark guardians started to. It's all so strange."

"Yes, very strange."

Jack leaned in to Yulee's ear as she flicked the water about with her fingers. "Are you sure that Leon said you could come into town? No one seems to know."

"You were there. You heard him. He said, 'I really enjoy spending time with you Yulee. I don't remember why I ever banned dark guardians in the first place. It was such a ridiculous thing to do. How would you like to come back to town?' and then I said, 'oh, really? I'd love to! The forest is getting way too dangerous,' and then he said, 'yes, I heard that all of your kind was disappearing.' And then I said, 'ya, it was a good thing the mayor came and found me,' then I covered my mouth and then he smiled and said, 'don't worry. You haven't gotten him in trouble. I'm glad he went against me because if he didn't I wouldn't have ever gotten to me you.' Then he rubbed my head and said, 'it's settled then. You come into town this coming Saturday and you and I can walk Jack around the town. He needs it.' And then you said, 'I would really love that sir,' and then he said, 'I told you not to call me sir. I said to call me Leon.' And then…"

"I think I remember now."

"Are you sure? Because I can go on."

"How old did you say you were?"

"Dead or alive?"

"All together."

Yulee counted and added up the numbers in her head. "412."

"Well you act far below your age."

"That's what everyone says…"

"That's what everyone should say." They both looked up to see Leon. The mummy had on a golden chest plate and he had moved his bandana so it was sticking up in more of a point at the back. He smiled at them from behind his bandages and Jack and Yulee smiled back at him. "Hello to the both of you."

"Hi, Leon."

"Hello."

The monsters, ghouls and ghosts in the area starred in disbelief. There was Leon, the pumpkin king, and then there was the dark guardian girl. They were in the same area so close that he could have touched her head but he did nothing. The pumpkin king merely stood there and smiled at her. The newcomer, Jack, stood up and shook Leon's hand in welcome. The mummy took it, patted Yulee's head and then led them through the town for a good day. The crowd that had gathered when silent and then ghosts turned even whiter with surprise.

---

Jack put his hands on the glass and peered into the store. It was small and there were brooms all in the windows. He could see different designs and beautiful patterns that covered the handles. Some had bars and some were coated with metallic additions. Yulee told him that metal brooms were the way of the future but some witches preferred the old ones just the same. It was usually just the teenagers that decided to buy the metal ones.

Leon was standing behind them and peering in as well. He couldn't see as well so he came up right beside Jack and pressed his one visible eye to the glass. He looked in as well. They could all see a figure whipping around in the store. They could tell that it was a witch using magic to move faster.

There was a bang as the shadow smashed against the window and beat a broom on the glass. "Get away! You're fogging my windows!" She cast a spell and the glass popped out of its hinges and flipped so that the side they had been leaning on was facing the inside of the store. The three jumped back immediately at the surprise and watched with interest as the witch moved away. A pink, furry animal with three, green eyes took her spot. It bounded up against the window, stopped in mid air, and rubbed away at the spot they had pressed their faces against and then snorted as it followed the witch back into the darkness of the shop.

Leon laughed. "That a witch for you. So wrapped up in spells that they can't even be polite when their leader comes to take a look in their shop. She's very lucky I'm not my old self or this store wouldn't exit anymore."

Jack and Yulee laughed.

---

The three came out of the sweet shop and Leon casually popped another chocolate-coated bat into his mouth by pulled away at one of his bandages. Yulee licked at her candy apple and Jack drank something that Yulee called 'a can of soda.' He felt that it tasted good and it was a vibrant flavour so he could actually tell that he was drinking something. The part of drinking that always surprised him though was the fact that the drink never spilled onto his clothes after he swallowed. Never. But he counted his blessings and added that as one of them.

Jack thought for a moment. "Leon?"

"Yes Jack?"

"Is it possible for a person to stay in their graves for around 200 years?"

Leon stopped and practically chocked on his food. He leaned down and beat at his chest. Yulee's candy apple went all the way into her mouth and she spat it out onto the ground in a hurry. The dark guardian fell to the cobblestones and sat there with her hands on the ground, behind her back as the pumpkin king straightened himself a little more. Leon looked up at Jack. "W… Why? Did that happen to you?"

Jack nodded.

Yulee looked up at Leon with a worried face and Leon looked back down at her. Jack caught on. "What? What's wrong? Is that bad?"

"Well…" came Yulee's voice, "It's not… completely bad… It's just a little disconcerting. Um… When you died. Like… how did you die?"

"I was shot and then stabbed and then I bled to death."

"Nothing else was used?"

"Well… after I was stabbed I went into the forest looking for the witch that lived there. I used to always help her out because she convinced me that she was a white witch. And she was. So I would always help her when it came to collecting what she needed to a spell or something because she couldn't do it on her own. Anyway. I went to see her and I collapsed in the swamp… and then… um…" Jack rubbed his scull with one, bony finger. "I don't remember much after that. All I can recall is a lot of pain… and then I woke up in the real world but 200 years later."

Leon rubbed his chin. "I don't see how that would put you in there for such a long time."

"Ya," said Yulee, "The only one that could have done that would be the witch you went to see."

"She wouldn't do that. She said that the spell would take a while but I think that I was meant to end up here, in Halloween town because I jumped back in my coffin after some boys dug me up and I fell into the fountain."

"Interesting…" Leon helped Yulee to her feet. "I have no idea what could have done that."

"Maybe you were meant to be a zombie. You know how they're always staying in their coffins too long. Maybe you were just in there so long that you lost your rotting flesh." She giggled to herself.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, if you can't think of what did it then that's all right. It doesn't really matter. I just wanted to know if it was a common thing. I guess now I know."

Leon and Yulee laughed lightly. Jack frowned a little but they didn't notice. It hadn't been meant to be a joke.

---

"Goodbye Jack. I hope that you had a good day with us."

"Oh, I did Leon. Thank you very much."

"And what am I? Chop liver?"

"A big thank you to you as well Yulee. I much appreciate what you two did for me today. I had much fun."

"It wasn't much. You'll be at work again on Monday all right? I had the mayor give you Sunday off as well. We have some training for you on Monday at noon all right? I'll come by you at the graveyard." Leon nodded farewell to Jack and then walked down the cobblestone path with Yulee to lead her back to the home she had acquired in the town.

Jack waved goodbye to them. He was about to enter the way to his house when he caught sight of someone out of the corner of his eye. The figure was limping and nearing him. Jack turned his head to the figure.

It was Billy. The zombie that he had met in the graveyard. He wondered why he was limping. Billy seemed fine when he walked away.

"Billy! It's great to see you again. It's been quite a while. Where have you been?" The zombie only moaned and neared closer to Jack. The skeleton raised a brow. "Are you feeling alright? You don't look all right. Is there something that I can do to help you?"

Billy just moaned again and neared closer to Jack once more. His left leg was dragging behind him and his skin, rotted as it was, seemed more torn and limp on his bones than it should have. His shirt was nearly torn off and was hanging by only a few pieces of fabric. He didn't look like himself at all. Not that Jack had known him all that much but he did know that Billy seemed to be a clean person when he met him, despite the fact that he was a rotting corpse.

While wrapped in his thoughts Jack felt a twang of pain that erupted on his arm. He looked down in fret as Billy released his limb. The zombie had bitten him. Jack pulled back with surprise. "I may be dead but I can still feel pain!"

The zombie did not listen to him. He let his head flop to the side and he limped down the street with glazed eyes as thought he had been drained of life. (Excuse the term used.)

Jack starred after him as Billy rounded the corner and headed for the graveyard. What a strange way to behave to the skeleton that had saved him from a long time of solitude in his coffin. Jack rolled up his tuxedo and looked at his arm. His clean bone was slightly coloured but he took no notice to it. He was a skeleton and being a ghost couldn't be worse in the least. He turned on his left heel and headed into his house for a good night of sleep before morning.

---

Brooke: All right! Chapter seven up! And I got a new review! So far, me and my friends here want to give kudos to everyone that sent me a review! Thank you all!

Impmon: The first one to thank is the first to send a review, Neon-Dusk.

Brooke: I give a lot of thanks to you. You were the first person to review even though about 140 people had read the first part already. You were the only one out of those people to send me a review and I'm glad for that. Thank you.

Fiendmon: Ok, the next one is crazygurl2010.

Brooke: Thank you. I'm glad that you loved what I had so far. It's always good to hear that someone loves something that you've done.

Jack: Ok, now we have… PacketOfPocky.

Brooke: Thank you for that wonderful review. I was so happy when I got it that I actually hugged someone. Do you know how weird that is for me? I am truly happy that someone that hardly submits reviews did one just for me. It makes me feel so much better inside and I thank you.

Zim: The last review we got is from Just another hopeless romantic.

Brooke: OK, I have no idea what the hell OC means, (pathetic, I know) but yes, Jack does meet Sally in this story. But not for a few chapters. She's still yet to be created, lol. As you can see the concept of why he was in the coffin is discussed in this chapter but it will not be revealed until I get further in. As for what he was doing in the coffin… sleeping. Why do you think Jack always has so much energy? He slept for 200 years and now he's wide-awake and dead! LOL.

Batty: Thanks for all the reviews people!


	9. Chapter 8

Brooke: OYG (Oh your god (atheist)) I finally did another chapter. Whoo!

Zim: I AM ZIM

Jack: Christmas is coming soon…

Impmon and Fiendmon: …Whatever…

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 8

The day was quiet in the morning once more as the skeleton rose from his floor bed and stepped into the sunlight that shone through the window of the top most tower. He was feeling especially good today for the soul reason that he would learn how to scare people in his new form. Usually that sort of prospect would not have thrilled him all too much. But the celebration and festivities of the town itself had brought out a newer side of Jack that he had not known too well. Although he had known that it was there in general he had not known that it was such a strong feeling that drove him on and, now, pushed him into the life of a skeleton, scaring humans on the night of Hallows Eve. Like each day the pumpkin faced sun shone its rays over the horizon as the skeleton revealed himself from the shadows of his home. He walked to the edge of town, shovel and clipboard in hand; ever watchful for a surprise from Yulee who had sworn not too long ago that she would scare him. There was a silence fog that hung in the air although he had no idea why. There was never any rain in Halloween town. But then the fog, most likely, added to the ominous ambience of the scenery and so Jack abandoned the concern from his subconscious.

Jack headed into the graveyard after leaving the boundaries of the city. Leon would come at noon but there was no telling when Yulee would come. He crossed the stone fence and walked across the moist dirt. He allowed the fog to disappear around his feet as he wandered through it and followed his markings to the last grave that he had done. It was a while but he was able to find the grave. The poor man had actually passed it and started one another. Only when the fog cleared did he notice that he was about ten graves ahead. Unfortunately he was on his second and so had to make sure that he had those graves finished before Leon came otherwise his process in work could be compromised by unruly organizations.

One by one he dug each grave, checked off each ghost, and sent one more zombie, by the name of Andrew, into town.

Yulee appeared not too long after. Perhaps a few hours into work. She had brought her very own shovel to help Jack finish the graves that he would have to do before the pumpkin king arrived. She helped him with his work and the process sped up greatly for she did not use only her strength but her magic too. With that at use it seemed like there were two Jack's working on the graves save for the fact that one of them was a girl, much shorter and actually looked like she could have been alive. Plus Yulee had wings and, of course, Jack did not.

They managed to finish a new record of 20 graves.

Jack did 16.

Yulee did 4.

They were both very satisfied with their work. Yulee more so than Jack for the fact that it was her very first day of grave checking and she didn't consider herself to be very strong most of the time. She was surprised when she finished her first grave and didn't feel too tired. Although Jack had done four by that time she still felt the pride well up within her person.

Jack looked to the sky.

It was noon.

He smiled and finished the burying of the grave that he had just done. He crossed the usual X mark on top of the moist soil and wandered to the stone fence where Yulee sat waiting. The skeleton sat down next to her and sighed. Leon was not there yet but they both new that he would come soon. The pumpkin king had promised to train Jack that day and they both hoped that when Leon made a promise he always kept it. He had kept the one he had made when he promised to join Jack and Yulee in their wander of the town not long ago so they both hoped he would keep his most recent promise.

He did.

"Hello Yulee, Jack." Leon appeared behind the fence in his stone colored chest plate and his bandana fashioning a white skull on the front.

Jack smiled. "Very festive for a training day."

"You think so?"

Jack nodded.

"Well then I thank you. I don't get too many comments on my outfits you know."

Yulee whispered to Jack. "That's because they all look the same." Jack smiled.

"Ok," Leon clapped his hands together and beamed at the two of them. "Where should we start off? It will have to be something that he will need to use on Halloween when we send him to the humans' realm. Think Yulee. What will Jack need most that night?"

Yulee rubbed her head. "Where should I start? There are so many that I can think of. The ability to summon the bats, controlling immobile objects, projecting illusions, possession of humans, summoning the dead, conjuring fears, seeing into the souls, finding the greatest fears of all in a person… I already covered mingling with people and Jack knows enough of modern English to help him commune better. He knows a fair bit of that stupid gangster talk that's popping up everywhere too. Umm… Maybe you should start with seeing into a person's mind. That way he'll have an easier time when it comes to bringing out what will scare them the most."

"Excellent choice Yulee. We'll start with that then." He turned to his pupil. "You, my fine skeletal friend, are at an advantage when it comes down to that. You have no eyes and so no one can see your true fear." Leon tapped the ground with his foot and a large rock emerged from the ground underneath him. It rose up three feet so that he was above Jack and Yulee. Leon looked down at them. "Yulee if you would please turn to Jack."

She did so.

"Good. Now Jack. I want you to look into her eyes and tell me what you see."

Jack stared into Yulee's black eyes. At first he saw nothing. A vision of himself was apparently there from what he could see but there was nothing besides that. Jack stared in further, desperately searching for an answer that would please Leon. He had always been able to please the people that taught him the things he would need to know. But for Leon he found that he could not find what it was that he needed. There was nothing there except his own reflection. Jack sighed and turned back to the pumpkin king. It was the first time he had not been able to give a good answer to someone that was teaching him. "I can't see anything except my reflection sir."

"That's good."

"It is?"

"Yes. Most people can't see anything in Yulee's eyes t all. The fact that you can see yourself in the eyes of a dark guardian is a very good sign indeed."

Jack smiled.

Leon did as well. "You are a very impressive one Jack. I am proud to be teaching you. Now, to continue the lesson we will start by clearing your mind. You will have to learn to do this very quickly because when you are trying to learn the fear of a human there will be many distractions and so you will have to adapt to doing it quickly like a rabbit hopping. Ok?" Jack nodded. "Good. Now, I want you to close your eyes Jack and think of nothing but a black void. Then I want you to clear your mind of everything. Only when you cannot hear me can you know that your mind is clear. I will continue to speak as you attempt this so that you can tell when you are clear or not. I want you to kept your index finger up so that Yulee can tell if you can hear me or not alright?"

Jack nodded and closed his eye sockets over with bone. He erased the pictures that stayed in his mind for the moment and silently closed himself off from the rest of the world. His finger stayed up as he heard Leon speaking.

"I want you to remember, Jack, that this is a fairly important exercise…"

He tried.

"It can usually be simple to discover a human's fear from what they do or say but sometimes it is must more difficult…"

Jack felt his eyes tighten. He let them release and be calm again.

"Only during this time will you have to use this ability."

The skeleton could feel Yulee's warm breath close to him.

"Most humans are scared of trivial things like spiders, clowns and the dark. Over my time though I have found people that fear the most ridiculous things like healthy food, older siblings and their teachers…"

Yulee's breath began to fade. He couldn't feel it all to well. Hardly at all really.

"There was actually one boy that I came across in my younger years where he was afraid of chickens. I believe that his name was Dwayne…"

Jack had much trouble hearing Leon now. But he did not care about that all too greatly. He continued to ignore the world around him and close his conscious off to the rest of life. Or in his case, death.

"Jack… can you…"

There was nothing but silence now. Jack could not hear Leon speaking although he knew that he was. Jack could no longer feel Yulee's breathes of warm air although he knew that she was still breathing. There was no feel or sound of wind around him and the moist fog at his feet had become nothing to his, no longer existing, nerves. The skeleton felt nothing. There was no sound, no smell, no feel, no taste and nothing to see, although he didn't have his eyes open. Jack slowly let his finger lower down but he did not feel it touch the stone. He knew that it did though and he knew that Yulee could see. He knew what they were talking about and he was aware of what was happening around him but he was no longer a part of it. It felt, to him, as though he were watching it from a while away and when he looked he could even see his own form sitting on the fence. Yulee was waving her hand in front of his face and Leon was clapping with joy proclaiming that Jack was a wondrous student and that he would do great on Halloween.

Jack could see Leon step down from his rock and step in front of Jack. He snapped his fingers and said: "Alright Jack. That's enough. You can hear me again now right?"

He did not move. He assumed that Leon had done something to bring him back to the rest of the world but nothing happened. He remained standing not too far away and remained watching the scene.

Yulee fluttered into the air and tapped him on the skull a few times.

Jack's form, from his own view, wobbled and fell over the back of the fence.

Leon and Yulee panicked. The pumpkin king leapt over the fence and leaned down to him. Yulee set herself upon the stone and held each of her elbows with a hand. Her arms were crossed. Jack walked over and looked at her worried face. When he glanced down Leon was above him body and was looking into his eye sockets. Jack didn't know what he would find in there. Jack had no eyes so he couldn't see into his soul.

He stepped closer to his body and was immediately engulfed in a pool of swirling black that sucked him in close. Then he saw an awful lot of the dark. He found that he was seeing a lot of black ever since he died.

Jack opened his eye sockets and looked at Leon. The mummy smiled behind his bandaged and Yulee sat down, relieved.

"You gave us a scare there Jack," Leon stood back up. "Why didn't you speak with me? You should have been able to hear me after the spell I cast."

"I wasn't here…" Jack stood up and brushed himself off as Yulee and Leon raised eyebrows at him. He caught their stares and pointed to where he had been standing when Leon complimented him while he was in his trance. "I was over there and I was able to see the entire spectacle from that spot."

Leon rubbed his chin. "Really?" His left eye went wide and his gripped Jack's arms, just below the shoulders with joy. "My god dear boy! That was soul projection! It took me years to figure out how to do that and yet you discovered how without even knowing about it! What you have is an amazing gift m'boy! You are a very lucky skeleton Jack."

This made him smile a stitched grin at his teacher. A compliment from Leon was considered an honor to the people of Jack's new home and so he took it as such as well. Yulee flew into the air and did her usually happy spin before fluttering to his side and hugging him around the neck. "Wow Jack! That's amazing! I can't believe that you can do that!" She turned to Leon. "Do you think that Jack could be your successor?"

What portion of Leon's rotted face that could be seen went from its moldy gray to a strange, ghostly white. He rubbed the back of his head at the question. "Well, I suppose that it would be possible but I don't think that it's likely for quite some time. I don't exactly intend to die again you know. The first time was good enough for me and I don't much feel like doing it again."

Yulee smiled. "That's true. Dieing a second time is troublesome. But I don't have to worry about that!" She laughed and spat at them both. "I can die again and again!" She did a flip and then landed on the stone fence. "Until I find peace I can do whatever I want!"

Jack raised a brow. "You seem pretty 'at peace' to me."

Yulee went white. She hurried to him and cupped her hands over his mouth. "Don't say that out loud! I have way too much fun here and I don't want to leave!"

Jack pulled her minuscule hand away and smiled at her. "Ok then. I won't say it out loud."

Yulee smiled.

Leon sighed. "Can we please continue with our lesson now?"

"Yes. Sorry."

"Not a problem Jack."

The skeleton turned to his teacher and braced himself to learn of Halloween and the many ways to scare a human. For some reason he was looking forward to it a lot.

---

Brooke: We had a lot of people go white in this chapter.

Jack: Yup. So? Is there anyone else that we have to recognize for their reviews?

Brooke: Yes. We have a review from musically. I'm glad that you enjoyed my story so far. I always love to see when someone does. So thanks to all of you.

Zim: Hey look. Neon-Dusk's name changed. Now it's CherryProductions.

Brooke:… Anyways… I'm terribly sorry that it took me so long to update this story again after I finished the seventh chapter but our electric bill was spiking from my constant time on the computer and so I had to use the computers at my school to complete the chapters, which made it take a much longer time. But I did it at least. Once again, sorry.

Batty: She doesn't own the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' main story. Just this one here.

Zim: You should have said that at the beginning of the story…

Brooke: You're an idiot… I dislike idiots… Especially around Christmas time… Fry him Fiendmon.

Fiendmon: With pleasure (lights blue flame on fingertip.)

Impmon: Don't forget me. (lights red flame on fingertip.)


	10. Chapter 9

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 9

"Get that over there!"

"We need more bats!"

"Where are the cobwebs?"

Jack stepped out into the daylight. He had been allowed to sleep in if he found it possible during the hustle that came with the day before Halloween. He had been able to sleep nonetheless. Now he was surprised that he had been able to dot it at all. Once he woke up he found that it was extremely noisy outside. The monsters of Halloween town were hurrying around, preparing for the next day.

It was the day before Halloween and Jack was feeling refreshed, ready to help and hoping to meet some new people. Perhaps make a new friend or two. He had been so wrapped up in his work for the longest time and the only people that he really knew where Yulee, Leon and the mayor, although he didn't consider the mayor to be a friend per say. He was more of an acquaintance.

"Good morning Jack."

He turned around and looked down. Yulee was standing there below him with a rectangular object in hand. She had draped a black cloth over top of it just so that no one would be able to see it. Or at least, that's what he thought.

He smiled at the dark guardian. "Good morning Yulee. What have you got here?"

She looked down in her hands and looked back to him. "What else?" Yulee place her hand on the black cloth. In a flash the darkness swept past Jack's eyes and met the ground. Yulee let the cloth fall to the dirt and her friend looked down to see…

Leaves.

They were very roasted looking.

Like they had just been pulled out of an oven.

Jack pointed to them finger his finger lightly. "What are you doing with crispy autumn leaves Yulee?"

"Making them good for autumn. Duh!"

"But…" He thought for a moment and rubbed his chin. There was no explaining what his little friend had just said.

"You didn't think that the leaves turned brown and gold on their own did you?"

"Actually, I did."

"Well that's just stupid. The leaves can't do that on their own. All that ridiculous mumbo jumbo about leaves being able to do it depending on the season is dumb. Nature doesn't work like that. Lots of the time it's the fairies doing it but there's a shortage of leaf duty fairies this year so I have to do it."

"You have to?"

"When you're dead it's not that hard for someone to summon you back and have you do what they want you to do. Only the pumpkin king can't be affected. Anyways… In this case it was my mother. So now I had to do the rest of the autumn leaves that everyone else was too lazy to do before Halloween. I've done them all now though. Want one?" She extended the tray to Jack's confused, skeletal face. She frowned. "Come on Jack. Crispy leaves are tasty! And they have a lot of flavour so you'll be able to taste them. Especially since they're nice and warm."

Jack shrugged. "I have nothing more too lose." He plucked a bright red and gold leaf from off of the tray and popped it into his mouth. Jack chewed a few times and then swallowed. Yulee was right. The leaves were good. He could taste them as they chinked down his bones and then disappeared into the void where all his food went. Jack looked up and around him. Leon was nowhere to be seen. "Yulee, where is Leon today?"

"He's far too busy to come outside and enjoy the day. Tomorrow is Halloween after all and it wouldn't be too good if he wasn't prepared, now would it?"

Jack shook his head.

"Are you all ready for your trip then, Jack?"

"Yes. I've been practising a lot."

"How are your possessions coming along?"

"Much better but I can't do it for as long as Leon can."

"Ya… I still have a headache from when he did it to me. You still haven't told me what he had me do that made you laugh so hard."

"I didn't?" Jack giggled slightly. "Must have slipped my mind." He stepped forward.

Yulee followed him wit a frown on her face and the tray of leaves in her hand. The two of them headed into the town to help with the preparations for the next day. It was going to be a big day for Jack. Leon had promised that Yulee could go with him. Especially seeing as this was his first real encounter with humans of this time period and he was still pretty rusty when it came to conversations.

---

Brooke: Beep! Beep! Beep! Short chapter alert! Sorry this chapter is so short. It's meant to be, I assure you. It's one of those tiny chapters that you can sometimes find in a book. These kind of ones always lead up to a very epic chapter.

Zim: In this case it leads up t a series of epic chapters.

Impmon: Ya, you're going onto chapter 15 with this, aren't you?

Brooke: Shhh!

Jack: Relax. They know now.

Brooke: (frowns) I'm gonna kill you guys…


	11. Chapter 10

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 10

The ominous feeling enveloped the town on that frightful night. Ghouls and ghosts danced in the wind with the howl of the werewolf. Witches rode with the moon in the night and the trees swayed in the breeze that would sweep past your face and leave a shiver in your spine. The night was dark, cold, bloodcurdling, illusive, and, above all, Halloween night.

Jack looked around him. There were people all over trying to prepare for the night that would be that night. They were determined to make it a wondrous Halloween and they knew that they would.

He looked over to his little Dark Guardian friend, Yulee. She had on a short, black gown that only went to her hips with cobweb arm coverings and a pair of black pants underneath so that she was still able to run and do such as she loved to. Her feet remained bare, as they had each day that he had set eyes on her, and her hair was pulled back with a pure black headband. If she had tried she could have blended into the dark of the night itself. She had painted, on her face, a bat on her left cheek and her eyes were heavily covered in make-up. It, like everything else in her attire, was black as pitch. Her wings struck out from behind her and she had gently made it so that they looked a little bit less torn and see-through. Although she looked like a human child her wings were far too real and so she had to make them less so. Yulee smiled with her blackened lips and looked up to Jack. Earlier that day she had painted the picture of a specter close to his right eye socket. Jack had allowed her to do it for two reasons. The first was because it would help in his effort to make himself look more made up and fake like he should have in the human realm. The second was because he had found out, through his many talks with her, that Yulee loved to draw and paint as much as she could and she never stood up a change to cover something bare with something new and colorful. She had painted it a while ago and so the paint was now dry and it wouldn't come off. "Are you ready to go to the human realm, Jack?"

He nodded. "You are coming with me right?"

"We already went over this. I'll go in first and then you'll come in after me. Of course we're going together!"

"How are we to get there?"

"I can teleport in and out of the human realm as I please… I just choose not too. I love Halloween town much more than that ridiculous place they call a world. It makes me feel sick to my stomach!" 

Jack laughed.

They each walked along the cobblestone pathways that wound through the town. Jack had been given enough free days in his line of occupation to learn most of the place by heart. There were still some sections that he was unfamiliar with, like the mansion, the crater, the tree house, which he had been told belonged to three children, and a few other places in the dark crevices of the town.

He had not been given the chance to meet the three children that had been said to live in the tree house. He had been told, however, that they were very young and that they had built the tree house all by themselves. Supposedly they had acquired help from someone that lived around Halloween town but no one knew where exactly. Jack had heard that he had been living in the crater for the longest time but Leon assured him that he had check it out and all he had found was an old, hollow tree. Jack felt content with the assuring of his friend and so paid little attention to thoughts about the three children.

Jack looked back to Yulee. She was stretching out her legs and looked to be preparing for quite the ordeal. "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for the trip. I'm a little rusty when it comes to transporting from one realm to the next. It could be a little bit of a bumpy ride. You'd be smart to stretch out too. Don't want your bones to start cracking up on you. That'll be a little bad seeing as we can't go to a hospital in the human realm."

Jack nodded. "You have a point there." He stretched his arm across his chest and pulled it close to his body as Yulee lifted her left leg around her back and touched her neck. He was surprised at how flexible she was. Although she was active he found Yulee to be stiff.

Together they prepared for the night that was to come. Halloween was going to be a scream with them in the human realm.

---

The vampires began to pour out of the darker crevices of the town. The blank moon had now risen from behind the clouds and the pumpkin-faced sun had disappeared underneath the line of the horizon.

Jack looked around him. There were so many people preparing for Halloween. He had never really taken it as such a wonderful holiday. It just seemed like another day to him when he had still been alive.

When he thought about it he found that he was having a little bit of trouble remembering some of the memories from his life. Each time a new though crossed through his scull he found that another memory of his life would drift out to give it room. For example: he remembered when he was a young lad. He remembered meeting a new girl. She had had black hair and a brown face and she had had a very kind voice. Yet he could not remember what her face had looked like. Whenever he thought back to it he found that the girl had no face in his memories and it bothered him terribly. He was planning to question Yulee about it after Halloween. Originally he had wanted to ask her about it **ON** Halloween but he had seen how much she really enjoyed that particular day and he had decided not to ask her questions on a day that she liked. And so Jack waited.

The night was just like any other night and so he took it as such. But no one else did. They rushed around trying to get everything ready. Jack thought that everything looked ready already. The entire town was one bug place for scary things to happen. He didn't know why they bothered so much anyhow. No human was going to come into Halloween town right? Why not just get yourself ready to go to the human realm and be done with it? He shook it from his mind taking the thought as being nothing important. They people of Halloween town should have known what they were doing. He had only been there for a year and he still didn't know all of what they did for the holiday seeing as it was his very first time being there for it.

There was a tugging on the back of his tuxedo.

Jack turned around and looked down to see Yulee's smiling face. She had, in her hands, a package wrapped in black paper with thin white stripes all along it that matched Jack's suit. She smiled and held it out to him. "It **_is_** your death day after all."

Jack looked at the present in her hands. "Yulee… I can't accept this from you. I didn't get you anything when it was your death day…"

"I didn't tell you that it was my dead day."

"But I still didn't."

"You didn't know until Leon found out a month later."

"But…"

"Accept it."

"But…"

"I don't like getting presents anyway."

"But…"

"I said take it." Yulee's right eye twitched slightly.

"I said that I can't…"

"Accept it before I tear your scull from your bony body and hurl it into a netherworld from which it will never come back? I suggest you do."

"…"

"Just take the damn present."

Jack sighed and plucked the present from her grasp. "You do realize that I will be forced to get you something for you next death day right?"

"You do realize that I'm going to rip each rib you have out and then throw it into a gutter in the human realm if you do."

He smiled slightly and looked at the black bow. He let his bony fingers hover for a moment. Then he gripped the black and white wrapping and tore it off. The box underneath it was made of metal. It had bolts all the way down each side as well as six holes. Jack peered inside one of the holes and saw nothing but black. He looked down at Yulee who just starred back at him with her insanely expressionless face. He pulled the latch on the side of the box until it was facing the dark sky and then lifted the lid.

Jack was knocked backwards with a jet of white that leapt at him from out of nowhere. He fell onto the ground and was shrouded with something bright that shone so much that he wasn't able to see anymore. He could hear Yulee laughing her head off. The light moved away and the first thing that he looked at was the dark guardian. She had risen into the air and her left hand was holding her head with laugher. The other hand was tucked tightly around her waist as she tried to control herself. Jack frowned. "It wasn't that funny…"

"Wasn't that funny?" She burst into another fit of laugher. "Someone who works with ghosts is afraid of one that so tiny? It's hilarious!"

"Ghost?" Jack looked to his side. There was a wavering white silhouette that floated about a foot above the ground. It had a long face with a bright red nose that shone. That explained why Jack had been bathed in the light so much that he could not see. The ghost barked at him a few times and he noted that it was a dog. When it floated up on top of him he saw the tag that was around his neck. It read a name that was all too familiar. One that he had not forgotten. "Zero!"

Yulee stopped in her laughing fit. "Eh?"

"This is Zero. I had him when I was alive… I think…" Jack stood up and looked down at the yipping dog. He examined it a little bit closer. It was too hard to tell if it was his dog or not. He sure acted like Zero but there were most likely many dogs that acted in the same fashion and had the same name. He rubbed his scull in thought. A thought struck him. If it was his lost dog then it would obey him when he asked it to do something. "Zero, sit."

The dog obeyed.

"Ok… Zero, beg."

The dog obeyed.

"… Zero, roll over."

The dog obeyed.

"Zero… lay down."

The dog obeyed.

Jack scratched his head once more. That had narrowed it down enough so that he knew the dog was as friendly as his had been. But that didn't mean that it was his dog just yet. He was still determined to know.

Yulee fluttered back to the ground and looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer her. He pointed to himself as he looked down at the dog and said: "Jack." Zero leapt up and made him topple over once more. It began to lick his face so that his whole scull was bathed in dog slobber.

Yulee frowned. She let her wings beat fast and then carry her up to his face once he stood up again. Yulee took a seat on one of Jack's shoulders and let her right arm rest on top of his scull. He looked up at her with a raised socket. She sighed and poked inside of his head with her finger. "Jack, Jack, Jack… Have you learned nothing from Leon's teachings?" Yulee took her finger out and stood up on his shoulder. She leaned down so far that her chin was parallel to her knees and peered into his sockets, her hair falling over her head. "Why don't you just see what he looked like when he was alive?"

"Oh, yeah!" He smiled at her. "I forgot I could do that."

The dark guardian rolled her eyes and fluttered back off of Jack's shoulder. She stayed in the air as the skeleton had the ghost dog come up to an eye level with him. He glared into the empty, eye sockets of the ghost and stared for a few seconds before a picture came up. The dog he saw was very small with black fur and a nose so familiar in his head that he could have touched it. Jack smiled and patted the dog's head. "It's is you, Zero."

Yulee rolled her eyes.

"People!" They turned to see the mayor in his car. The megaphone was blasting the instructions for Halloween. "Please, get ready. Monsters going to the human realms please prepare to leave within the next twenty minutes. You time is now up for getting ready."

"Come on."

Yulee had Jack follow her through the throng that now rushed over the town square. Leon stood on a podium in the centre of it all. He looked out to everyone with a black chest plate on. His bandana was gone and his bandages looked more rotted and torn than ever before. It looked like he had just been in a huge fight with someone but everyone was aware that he had taken extra time in his mansion to prepare his bandages so that they looked the part. Leon closed his visible eye with joy and opened his arms wide to the town civilians. "Welcome my subjects of Halloween town!" The crowd cheered. "It is, once again, that special time of year where we are allowed to moved into the human realm and have the time of our lives. Feel free to get some nachos while you're there." The crowd cheered again. "As you can plainly see, over the past year I have had a tremendous change in terms of personality and attitude towards everyone. I would like to take this time to recognize the monsters responsible for that. Thank you to Jack Skellington and Yulee the dark guardian!" Two spotlights, from where they were coming from could not be seen, shone down on Jack and Yulee. The dark guardian had flown into the air so that she was able to see well in the crowd seeing as she was so short. The light shone onto Jack and he covered his eye sockets with his left arm. Yulee was not so fortunate. The light shone into her eyes and she lost her balance in the air. The girl's wings buckled, much like a human's legs would on a trampoline, and she fell out of the air, landing with a resounding thud on the hard cobblestones underneath her. Leon flinched back at the sound. "Oh… Uh… Sorry Yulee…"

"Leon! I'm going to wish that you were never mummified!" Yulee's voice erupted out from the crowd. She lifted back into the air in plain site of everyone and glared at the mummy standing on the podium. "I'm going to rip that eye out of your head and chew on it! Then I'm going to take each bandage and I'm going to… whoa!"

Jack lurched Yulee down and out of site. He covered her mouth and laughed a little bit. "Yulee… She's such a kidder…"

Leon rubbed the back of his head as everyone in the crowd turned back towards him with raised eyebrows. He smiled from underneath his bandages and then turned back to the matter of Halloween. "Anyways. This is a tradition that we have passed down since Halloween town's first days and we keep it as such… uh…" He looked around at all of the eager faces in the crowd. "Uh… Do any of you really want to hear this?"

Everyone in the crowd shook their heads simultaneously.

"Ok… blah, blah, blah… yadda, yadda, yadda… Let our night of fright begin!"

The crowd cheered.

Yulee was set on the ground by the skeleton. Jack held her shoulders and looked her up and down. He frowned at her and then narrowed his sockets. "Are you ok? You're not going to beat on Leon?"

"Yes, yes. Now let me go please."

Jack hesitated and then released her shoulders. "All right Yulee. I suggest that…"

"Leon! You're mine!" Yulee ran forth through the crowd that had not yet left for a night of scaring, biting and blood draining. She leapt onto a werewolf's head and then bounded off towards the stage.

"Leon, look out!"

---

Jack held Yulee by her shoulders again. He looked at her face. Her face paints had been peeled off from the fight and she had a large purple bruise on her right eye. Her shirt was torn a little and she had added yet another tear to the collection that she had started on her wings. She frowned at him and then peeped over his shoulder to look at Leon. He was leaning against a wall his hand was over his eye so he couldn't see anything. His chest plate was cracked and gave off residual bursts of magical energy from Yulee's attack. The mummy had ended up worse than she had. The bandages over his left arm had been torn off completely and the blackening skin that lay underneath it was visible. She smiled at her work.

"Now Yulee. Are you completely done?"

"I think I got my point across…"

Leon stood up and called over to her. "And what was that?"

"You don't know? I guess I'm not done."

"Yulee." The dark guardian looked into Jack's cold lifeless eyes. She sighed and gave in. Jack's smile returned and he set her down. Much to his enjoyment she stayed where he had put her. Jack leaned down and placed his hands on his hips. "Are you going to leave any time soon? In case you've forgotten, you are the only way that I can get to the human realm."

Yulee frowned and then took in a gulp of air. The familiar black cloud that Jack had seen her practise with appeared close to him. He turned towards it and then gripped the girl's hand as he stepped through. She came in after him and then let her breath out.

Where they were looked nothing like the human realm that he had been to. The whole of it was a swirling mass of purple and deep blue. There was no horizon line. There was no sky and there was no ground. Jack couldn't even tell if he was standing up or hanging upside down. It was an endless void of confusion to him. He couldn't even see in front of him anymore. When he lifted his hands to his face he found that he did not see them. Either he no longer had hands or he was no longer able to see, as should be for a skeleton. Jack began to panic. He tried to move his body but found, to his utter dismay, that he no longer had one. He was but a floating mind in a void of nothing.

And he was scared.

He tried to call out but with no body he had no mouth for which to call. He couldn't move. All he could do was float helplessly in a see of mystery. What he once knew became foreign and unknown. Soon he would die. He was sure of it.

"There you are."

There was a tugging behind him.

His body came back into view.

Jack looked at his hands.

He was pulled out and away from the void. He smiled with joy.

Yulee pulled her hand out of the black hole that she had torn into the world. Her friend was brought out with her. He was drenched in a thick, gooey, black substance that clouded his form. Jack looked at himself and tried to get it off. He yelled out in surprise. "Ugh! What is this? Get it off of me!" He hurriedly wiped at the substance but it stuck to him as though it was his very skin. "What is this stuff? It's like it's a part of me."

"That's because it is." Yulee held her breath and then touched one of the masses of black. The rest of them disappeared into one of her portals and her slender fingers lifted the one she had touched up. She held the blob in her hand for a moment and then looked at Jack as he rose to his feet. "This, she said indicating to the mass, "is what I like to call a portaling. It's a creature of pure dark matter created from the hatred in people's hearts. That hatred is concentrated in the portal realm that we just came through and can be a part of anything that moves. For you, seeing as you have no flesh, it became your new layer of skin. You weren't in their long enough to get a full coat though."

The blob twitched.

"Gah! It moved!"

Yulee turned to it and eyed it with interest. "So it did. All right." She tucked it away in her pants pocket. "I'm keeping this one then."

Jack grimaced and then looked around him. He was in the middle of a street, not too busy with trick or treating children. There were the occasional ones about but he didn't see all too many. The houses were all differing in colours and height. One house, on his left side, was two stories tall and was white with a green roof and two sets of doors with a large tree right in front. The one to his right was only one story tall, it was not as long and it was made of bricks with a black-grey roof. There was one, small tree out from and only on door. Each was decorated with varying Halloween decorations.

He smiled in wonder at the new world that he had yet to see. So far, it was amazing.

Yulee pulled her hand out of her pocket and placed her hands behind her head. She began to walk, jutting her legs out in front of her so high that they could have hurt a man. When she noticed that Jack wasn't following her she turned and raised a brow at him. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah."

She smiled. "Glad I taught you well."

Jack nodded and followed the dark guardian through the streets to the destination of scaring.

---

Brooke: He's in the human world! Whoo!

Jack: We have a few more reviews to thank. First of all we have Sugary Snicket.

Brooke: I am glad that you thought that my idea was interesting so thank you for that. Also, what happened to Billy will come into the story in a few chapters after Jack meets Sally. As for why Billy bit Jack, what do normal zombies do? They bite people because they want to eat flesh. And, to all people worrying about it, no, nothing bad is going to happen to Jack. He's dead so nothing bad can actually happen if he has no skin to be infected by the zombie virus.

Zim: Next we have a review from Riariti no Iru-jon.

Brooke: Glad you are such a big fan of Jack. I'm a big fan myself. But if you met me in real like you'd never know. Lol. Anyways, I'm also glad that you like Yulee. I have to admit though; I sort of stole her personality from my friends. I merged together Ahva, Amy. Brooke M. (yes, there are two of us. I'm Brooke S.), Justine and Becky and Yulee was the result. Still glad that you like her though. Whoo! Go you!

Batty: Canada Dry and Cola for everybody that has sent reviews! Whoo!


	12. Chapter 11

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 11

"Ok, Jack. Are you ready?"

"Remind me again why we went trick or treating first…"

"It's all part of luring the victims."

"You scared those people pretty well."

"I can't help it if old ladies are like that. Besides, it helped us to get our candy faster."

"I suppose."

"Now, are you ready?"

He nodded.

"Good. We'll start…" Yulee looked around her and pointed to a set of large gates where a bench sat just outside. "That's where we'll have our first few victims… By the I means besides the old hags." She crossed to the gate and looked at the thick metal lock. Yulee rubbed it in her fingers. She then snapped it in half with an action that looked as though she had been snapping her fingers. The thick chains fell to the ground with a clang and Yulee peered at them for a second. Then she pushed the gate open and beckoned for Jack to step inside.

He followed her motion and walked through the gate to the cold place that lay beyond it. Jack looked back to her with a smile. "Oh, you are _very _original, Yulee."

"Just shut up and bury yourself."

"Bury myself?"

"You know, like you've risen from the dead to avenge a poor girl… blah, blah, blah."

"Now **_that_** is original."

"All right, all right. Hurry up!"

"Ok, ok. I'm going."

Yulee turned back and looked around her. There was a fair amount of people. It was perfect.

---

"Dude! This sucks! I could have been at a party by now!"

"You weren't invited to a party this year Carl."

Carl went silent. He looked into his, near empty, sack of candy. Throughout the entire night neither he nor Reeaz had been able to get all that much candy. For some reason, most of the houses that they had gone to were either out of candy or wouldn't come out to greet them. The entire night had been a complete bore and Carl had hated it. He would have much rather stayed at home with what candy his mom had and watch some horror movies. He pulled at the itchy sheet that was his horrible excuse for a ghost costume. He'd made it at the last minute when Reeaz appeared at his door in a wizard costume with a think purple cloak and a whit beard. He was supposed to be Dumbledore from Harry Potter but he looked much more like any normal old guy in purple than he did the mighty wizard.eHe

"You are right though," came Reeaz's bored voice. "This Halloween sucks. I can't believe that no one had any candy left to give out."

"And what was with what that old lady kept muttering?"

"Yeah. You'd think a little girl scared her half to death."

"Then again, it wouldn't have been to hard at her age."

The two boys laughed with one another for a minute.

**Carl wiped a tear from his eye that originated from his laughter. He smiled at his friend, even though he knew that Reeaz would not be able to see it. He overlooked the night that they had been going through and mentally tried to figure out the reasons as to why the people handing out the candy could be so scared or not have any more candy left. It just didn't make sense. Usually, in the years before now, he and Reeaz had been able to walk all up and down this neighborhood and they would always be able to get pillowcases full of candy. Neither of them knew why they weren't getting any this year. There weren't all too many kids out this year. Had the people anticipated that and merely bought less candy/ If so, there was no point in them continuing through the night because it would be the very same at every house that they would have gone to visit. **

"**Seriously dude, we need to get some candy or I'm just going to go back. I can't bother wasting my time out here without anything to do." **

** "Yeah, you'd much more like to watch some nice X rated movies right?" **

** "Bingo." **

** Carl sighed. "Man… I'd do anything for some candy right about now. I'm starving." **

** "Just think of all those caramels…" **

** "And those heresy kisses…" **

** "And the Kit Kat bars…" **

** "And the gum…" **

** Distraught and annoyed the boys let there shoulders lean back onto one another. They sighed and sank to the ground on some grass. Carl and Reeaz sat back-to-back, bored and hungry. They sighed deeply at the same time and then looked into their near empty sacks. It was pathetic somehow. They had absolutely, positively, definitely, no… **

** "Candy… I love you." **

** Their attention was brought back by that voice. Carl and Reeaz turned their heads to a bench close to the old graveyard. Carl took off his sheet and tidied up his bright blonde hair. He rubbed his nose. Reeaz took the wizard mask off and looked at the person on the bench. He scratched his dark skin and stared at the person sitting there. She had so much candy with her… The girl was dressed as a witch. She had cobweb arms on her dress and she had a pair of jeans underneath the short fabric of the gown itself. She had long black hair and a face heavily coated in make-up. Two fake wings were set on her back. They looked sort of rotten and battered. She also had large ears on as though she was an elf but they seemed to be even too long for that. Her skin was pale as the moon itself and her eyes were red as blood, most likely with contacts.**

** Reeaz looked over to Carl who looked back at him. "Should we? She's got plenty." **

** "We'd probably go to hell for it." **

** "We're going to hell anyways dude." **

** "Dude!" **

** They gave each other props by touching their fists together and then turned back to the girl sitting on the bench. She was a prime target. If they couldn't get any candy of their own they would take it from someone else. That how hungry they were. They were going to take candy from a little girl. It wasn't as pitiful or cruel as stealing candy from a baby but it was still a pretty low thing to do. Reeaz turned to Carl. "Put your costume back on. If she sees us she'll tell the police what we look like. That wouldn't be too good." Carl shook his head and pulled the sheet back over his body. He put his arm out the holes in the sides and then nodded to Reeaz once he had his own costume on. Reeaz smiled under that heavy beard. "Ready?" **

** "Ready." **

** They approached the little girl. She had some of her candy dumped out of the bench and she was counting it without a care in the world. Carl wondered why someone so young was out all by themselves. She popped a caramel into her mouth and chewed on it with delight. Their mouths watered from under their costume covers. **

** "Hi." **

** The little girl looked up at them. Only then did they notice that she had a bat painted on her forehead. It, usually, would have been hidden by her long bangs but they were pushed back with a few red and orange pixie sticks. She smiled at them. "Hi." **

** "What are you doing out here all alone so late at night?" inquired Carl. **

** "I was just counting my candy. And I'm not alone. Jack should be somewhere around here." **

** "Oh? Is he your older brother?" **

** "No. He's a younger friend." **

** "Younger?" **

** "Yeah." She popped another caramel into her mouth. "He should be around somewhere. He ran off a little while ago. Something about giving someone a good scare." **

** Carl laughed. "Yeah well. Listen, we've got a problem." **

** "Like what?" **

** "The people around here don't have anymore candy." **

** "Oh, I know all about that. They gave all their candy to me. Jack scared them." She giggled a little bit. **

** "Huh? Oh. Um. Anyways. We were wondering if you could help us… Seeing as you have so much candy and all…" **

** The girl's eyebrows touched the bridge of her nose. She swept what candy she had out back into her bag and then looked at them. The girl stood up and started to walk as she said: "Get your own." **

** Reeaz didn't even think about what he did next. He dove for the bag of candy. **

** The girl jumped out of the way, taking her bag with her, and pulled off his mask in the process. She bounded off the wall and landed just in front of his, close to the graveyard entrance. The girl wriggled the mask in her hand with her candy dragging on the ground in the other hand. She smiled with delight when she looked at his dark skin and brown hair. Her smile got even wider when he glared at her. **

** "Give that back!" **

** "You should be nicer to me. I know what you look like." **

** "You're a smart little brat ain't ya?" **

** She smiled even more. **

** "I want some candy. Give it up." **

** She shook her head. **

** Reeaz went for her. **

** The girl snapped back to attention and dove for the gate. She wriggled at the lock as he neared her. Then, realizing that she wasn't to get in that way, pulled herself up the metal gate like she was climbing a tree. She did a series of acrobatics and then landed on the top of the gate. Reeaz smashed into the pole just as she dove away and received a bloodied nose and a large red mark on his face. Carl ran to his side and then looked up at the girl who was now sitting on the very peak of the fence. She should have leapt out of the way once she sat on the point that was at the top but she acted as though it was nothing and balanced on it perfectly. "W… How… did you do that?" **

** "Who cares how she did it? I just want to get her." **

** The little girl stuck her tongue out to Reeaz and then smiled at him. Reeaz, in his temperamental state, shook the gate. She fell off inside the courtyard and landed on her back. Carl figured that she would cry out. At a fall like that even he would have done so. But the little girl crawled back to her feet, her sack of candy and Reeaz's mask still in hand. She placed a finger on the bottom portion of her eye and pulled it down as she stuck her tongue out again. Then she ran further into the darkness of the graveyard. **

**Reeaz stood up and rubbed his sore face. He looked into the dark and smiled. Then he pulled out a flashlight and aimed it into the darkness. The little girl's form wiped by once and his smile went even wider as he jiggled at the lock. Seeing that merely shaking it did nothing he took out a pocketknife and picked at the lock. It fell to the ground and Reeaz easily pushed the gate open.**

**He turned back to Carl. "Are you coming?"**

"**I don't know… Does it really matter? Why don't we just go home and buy some candy tomorrow? It'll be easier."**

"**Look what that brat did to my face! I won't let her get away with that!"**

"**Technically you did that to yourself…"**

**Reeaz glared at him.**

"**Uhh… Never mind what I just said. Let's get her."**

"**That's the spirit!" Reeaz stepped inside the courtyard with his light shining into the dark. Carl followed close behind him. They walked deeper into the graveyard with each headstone staying right there and remaining motionless. Nothing in that whole place moved. All was silent. Even the wind had stopped in what melody it had been playing. The sound of it swirling through the air and past the trees was gone and the whole area was still as the death that lay beneath its soil. "Damn it's quiet…"**

"**Yeah… A little too quiet, don't you think?"**

"**Don't be such a baby. Do you believe in ghosts?"**

"**N…No."**

"**You're shaking."**

"**Well it's not my fault! It's freaky in…"**

**The gate behind them slammed shut. The lock, as they looked back, floated up from its place on the ground and wrapped around the gate doors. Then there was a click that echoed through their heads. Carl ran for the gate and tried to yank it back open but the lock was done up nicely. **eHeHe pulled out his own **pocketknife and tried to pick at the lock. It glowed bright purple and then melted so that it had completely molded shut. There was no way of opening it now. Carl backed up and fell to his bum. He ripped the sheet off of his head and rubbed his blue eyes. "N… No! No way! This can't be happening!" **

**Reeaz gulped down as much fear as he could. He looked into the dark. A moving figure caught his eye. Then the little girl's giggle echoed through the graveyard and he realized that it was her that had just run by. He smiled and turned back to Carl. "Don't worry, dude. She's just trying to scare us. This is all a trick."**

"**Melting the lock shut wasn't a trick!"**

"**Then what was it?"**

**Carl went silent. He looked at the ground and muttered something under his breath.**

"**What?"**

"**Magic! It's real magic!"**

"**You're full of a lot of shit, you know that? I'm going after the girl. You can stay here and be a baby if you want to but I'm not drying your eyes if you start to cry. See ya." Reeaz walked into the darkness after the girl.**

**Carl watched him go. He refused to move from his spot.**

**---**

Reeaz glared into the darkness of the bone yard. It was darker than it should have been. There was no moonlight. The moon was out and he was able to see it from under the trees in the area but he wasn't able to see the light that should have come from it. All that was left was a white circle in the sky that gave him no help at all.

The air around him had turned deathly cold. He felt sick just looking about. The trees, wit their grasping branches, looked as though they were ready to reach down and grip him by the throat. He progressed further into the darkness of the graveyard but as he went he found that he had to use more courage with each step.

_Come on Reeaz. Get it together. If a little girl can get in this far then you can too. It's not too dark here either. As long as I have my light I'll be fine…_

His light blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Then it went out.

"Shit!" He shook it hard and tried to get it to work again. Reeaz smashed it against a tree and he heard a crack. "Stupid flashlight!"

_OK… I'm still fine. That little girl made it in further without any light at all. I just have to stay calm. If I do that I'll be absolutely fine… There's nothing to worry about. Everything here is dead… Yeah! It's all dead! Nothing can get to me here!_ Reeaz felt his heart leap up with enthusiasm. He felt his bravery returning to him and he discovered that he was able to take more fearless steps than before. _Everything in this place is completely and utterly dead. Nothing is alive. I'm the only one… Other than Carl and that little girl but still! I've got nothing to worry about! And it's not too dark. I can still see some of what's in front of me…_

He stubbed his toe on a tree root and fell to the ground.

"Ow!"

_OK… so I can't see as well as I thought I could… No matter… I'm still fine. Nothing is going to bring me down! I'll just get up, get that girl, and then get out. Simple…_

Reeaz tried to stand but there was a tugging on his pant leg that pulled him back to the ground. "What the…?" He looked back at his foot. He wasn't able to see anything at all. The only thing he was sure of was that something was holding him down. He frowned and sat up, reaching hands out to grip hold of whatever held him and rip it right off.

What he touched was very cold. _Stupid tree roots…_ He pulled on it.

It pulled back.

"What the…?"

"Hi." He looked to his right where that voice came from. There was a small figure standing right close to him. "I'd like you to meet Jack. He's my friend."

Reeaz looked at the thing that held his foot. It was a hand. He followed along the form of the long, skinny arm that held him. His eyes met with the one the figure called Jack. They went wide and he screamed.

---

Carl sighed.

He watched as Reeaz's light went out in the darkness and he vaguely heard him yell out: "Shit! Stupid flashlight!"

Carl was going to go but he thought better of it. If he went he wouldn't be able to see at all. Then again, neither did Reeaz. The moon had, somehow, blinked out a little while ago and there was nothing left. All around him was pure black. The only light that he could see what that left by the lampposts on the street. But he couldn't get out and he didn't want to bother trying. He's just wait for Reeaz to come back and then he'd get the little girl to help them. For some strange reason he had a feeling that she had something to do with what had just happened.

_Maybe she's a real witch and she's lured us here so that she can eat us for tonight of turn us into frogs or toads or something… damn it! That sounds so stupid! Come on Carl, get a grip. It's just one little girl… How could she have done this? Then again… Maybe it is possible… After all, the border between the spirit realm and our world is supposed to be at its weakest on Halloween. _Carl rubbed his head. _Why do I even believe in that? It's just plain stupid… I've got to get my fears under control. Ok… let's see…_

_This girl comes and says that her friend scares all these people but he's younger than her._

_Then when Reeaz tries to get her she shows absolutely no fear, which is just inhuman._

_When he dove for her she was able to get out of the way of his attack so quick._

_Then she jumped up and landed on the gate without hurting herself at all._

_When he shook the gate she fell backwards and then could run away._

_Then the gates suddenly closed all on their own without the wind._

_And then the lock melted completely shut, which isn't possible. _

_Reeaz is being dumb but he always thinks things through._

_I don't feel any courage at all and I'm real scared._

_We're both like opposites of ourselves now. _

_The moonlight is now completely gone._

_Reeaz's flashlight's gone out._

_I still don't get any of it._

_This is so weird._

There was a scream that echoed through the graveyard. Carl's body froze as the shiver of the fear that enveloped him ran up his spine. It was Reeaz. Reeaz had screamed. Carl wanted to move but he was too scared. He wanted to help his friend but he was too frightened to do anything at all. He was far to chilled to the bone to do anything useful.

"Hi." He nearly leapt out of his skin at the little girl's voice. He felt himself scream out loud and he felt onto his side, scrambling away from her. The moonlight came out again and shone down on her tiny form. She was smiling at him as he lay there on the ground. Her candy sack was still in her hand and she had her arm out towards him, in her hand was Reeaz's mask. "I just thought that your friend might want this back. I don't have any use for it whatsoever. So here."

Carl took it. "But… He went out to look for you."

"Oh, I know. He met Jack. They're getting acquainted right now. Jack should be coming to met up with us any second. He'll bring your friend too. Reeaz was it?"

"Yeah. So you guys made up? He was pretty mad when he left."

"Don't worry about that. It's all fine now." The girl sat down next to him. "What's your name?"

"Carl, you?"

"I'm Yulee."

"That's a strange name. What does it mean?"

"I don't know. What does yours mean?"

"Manly." Yulee laughed. "What?"

"I scared you. You don't seem very manly to me."

Carl frowned. "Oh! About that lock…" he pointed to it so that Yulee knew what he was getting at. "Did you do that?"

"Oh! Look! Here comes Jack!"

Carl looked out. "I don't see anyone."

"You're looking on the surface idiot." Yulee took Carls' hand and placed it to the ground. "Jack's not coming on the surface. He's coming from down there."

Carl's eyes went wide.

The soil under his feet burst upwards and he stared up at it. Then he closed his eyes as the dirt showered down again. Carl peeped open his left eye and looked up. The figure before him was huge. He was tall and dressed in a swanky pin-stripe tuxedo. His bony hands had long fingers that curled as his hand pointed to the ground from their spot away from his body. His meet were set apart from each other, more so than Carl could have made his own go and his arms were out from his sides as though he was about to fight. His back arched and the cue ball, scull sat upon the shoulders. Though there were no eyes in the ocular cavities Carl knew that the creature that had risen from the ground was staring at him. He shivered with fear.

---

"How'd I do?"

"For you're first scare… Pretty freaking well. What about my acting?"

"Very good. You seemed like a very well mannered, little girl. You almost had me fooled."

Yulee did a mocking bow at the skeleton.

Jack laughed. Then his smiled diminished. "Do… Do you think we scared them too much…? They looked… really… really…"

"Stop worrying Jack. I'm sure that they'll be fine…"

Yulee led him down the bare street. Their next target place wasn't too far away. Then they had to take a portal to the one after that.

---

"Poor lads…"

"What happened here?"

The police officer turned to a woman just outside the gates of the graveyard. She had a worried expression on her face. "Someone with a really horrible sense of humour scared these boys pretty good. From what we can tell they lured the two kids into the graveyard and then melted the lock so that they couldn't get out."

"The poor things. Are they all right?"

"It'll take a while I reckon. They looked pretty scared when we found them. One of em just keeps saying the same thing over and over again. 'Horrible… lifeless… eyes…' The other one won't say a thing at all."

"What a terrible thing to do to young boys."

"Yeah…" The police officer looked at the ambulance where the mumbling boy was being seated. He was still clutching his legs up close to his chest and his eyes were the size of dinner plates. He was shivering so furiously that he could have made a milkshake had you given him the cup. His fingers had dug into his legs so much that he had cut his skin and was bleeding slightly. The medics had pulled up his pant legs and were tending to the cuts. "A terrible thing…"

---

Brooke: I don't think that they'll be as 'fine' as Yulee says. Oh well. If you ask me they deserved it. Anyone who tries to take candy from a little girl should get just that. Ok, more reviews to take into account now… Zim, who's first?

Zim: Musically again.

Brooke: Glad that you like my story so much. That makes me feel good. If you want to see Jack meet Sally… Here's a preview. It comes out in the 19th chapter. It's a little far away but you're getting closer! Thanks for the review!

Jack: Now, we have another from Sugary Snicket.

Brooke: Whoo! I went to your account file and I saw that story you have. Why didn't you tell me you had an origin story about Jack too? Oh well. Glad you like how I wrote it. Thanks for the review!

Batty: I think everyone should get some cola and cookies for these! (Hands out)


	13. Chapter 12

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 12

**Jade stepped down from the car. She looked at the school that stood before her. It was her own but she had never much cared for it. She was there with her new boyfriend, Kevin. They had been dating for about a month now and she was pretty content with their relationship save for the fact that she would have preferred to stay inside most of the time rather than eat at a restaurant. Other than that everything was perfectly fine. **

** Kevin hopped out of the car next to her. He had short black hair that he spiked on his head all the time. His nose was small like her own as was his mouth and he had the most beautiful blue eyes. They stood out most of all against his stubble and hair. Jade loved Kevin a lot. He was kind, sweet, and, most importantly, cynical like she was. He was the perfect boy for her. Kevin had a long rode on that divided down the center and was geld together by a purple gem at the top. He had a hood that he usually left off and a scythe that he hold either hold or put in a black belt that she had made for him. **

** She hurriedly fixed her costume up as best as she could. For Halloween, this year, she had decided to go as the mental definition of pain and war. So, to do this, she had a short dress on that was tight to her body and a pair of jeans on under that. Then she had placed fake scars all over her body with fake blood dripping from her eyes. Her red hair was messed and tatty because she hadn't brushed it for the same purpose. Her hands had false claws all along the ends and so they looked much longer and she had some make-up on her left eye to make it look as though she didn't even have one. Her lips were painted black with lipstick and her skin was coated with white to make her pale as the moon. **

** She looked at the school. The committee had done a very good job on it and she was glad for that. Last year it was looked horrible and she hadn't been too happy about it, as you can only imagine. So, this year she had joined the decorating committee to do it up herself. It looked good. **

** Kevin took hold of her arm and pulled her along. "Let's go. We have to make an entrance." **

** "Since when have you ever been worried about making an entrance?" **

** "Since I got you for a girlfriend." **

** Jade felt her skin turn red and she hoped that it wasn't visible behind her make-up. **

** Kevin led her inside the building. They crossed through the crowded hallways and made their way into the auditorium. It was a bustle with people dancing, talking and having a good time. They were all dressed in wonderful costumes. Some of them were very original whereas, unfortunately, some were not. One boy walked by with his pants practically down to his knees and a blue beanie with a visor on his head as well as a pair of sunglasses that didn't fit his face. **

** "What are you supposed to be?" she asked. **

** "Yo! I'm a hard core rapper!" **

** Jade rolled her eyes. "It's people like you that give Halloween a bad name. Where's the originality in that kind of costume? There is none. All you did was slap together a costume from your old clothes that you wear everyday. The only reason that you can get away with this is because Halloween has lost so much purpose that most of the costumes seen these days are just as stupid. Let me guess… You're going to go out with some friends, bang on doors and demand candy?" **

** "Why you have to go up and do that? Jade… it's me." The boy removed his glasses to reveal sagging brown eyes with rings caused from lack of sleep. Her smiled at her with bright white teeth. Jade was a little taken aback by the tanned boy's face at first. **

** "Ulmer? I didn't know that you chose these kind of costumes… I didn't even know that you liked Halloween…" **

** "You have it right there. I don't. The only reason I'm like this is because Carl and Reeaz were going to pick me up here and we were going to score some candy before the night's over." **

** "They haven't shown up?" **

** "Nope." **

** "I'm not surprised. Oh well. Have a good night Ulmer. Happy Halloween." **

** "Yeah… sure…" **

** Jade walked away, still attached to Kevin's arm. Ulmer slowly put his glasses back on and slipped into the crowd. **

** "Why don't I go and get up some punch?" **

** "Kay." **

** Kevin broke off from her and wandered through the throng towards the punch bowl, leaving Jade there in the crowd all on her lonesome. She sighed. Now that he was gone there was nothing to do for a little while. But she decided to take matters into her own hands. Jade started to dance a little bit, not really caring if people thought that she was crazy for not having anyone to dance with. **

** "What are you doing?" **

** Jade turned around abruptly at the sound of the voice. Her eyes sat on three people that had emerged from the crowd to greet her. Well… 'greet' may not be the best choice of words for this particular moment. **

** Cleo was standing there. She was next to Hilary and Andy. There were all girls in the same grade as Jade. Each of them had blonde hair but Hilary's was a little browner than the others'. Cleo had a short pink dress on with the shoulders puffed out. If someone were to bend down ever so slightly they would have been able to see her undergarments but Jade was aware of the fact that Cleo liked it that way. She had lots of jangling bracelets made of gold that went all the way up her arms. There was a tiara that sat on her head with a purple gem on the tip and she had a pink wand in hand. **

** Hilary had a grass skirt on with a blue bikini top. She had her brownish-blonde hair tied up in a long ponytail so high on her head that if you nudged her from the back her hair would have all flown into her face. She had sandals on her feet and flowers were… taped? Yes… They were taped all up her legs, stomach and arms. She had heavy blue eyeliner on and her lips were colored bright red. **

** Andy had her blonde hair curled to perfection and her witch's hat sat perfectly on the top. She had long sleeves that cut at the ends just close enough to her fingers to strap on and connect to the rings that she wore. Her dress was very short, like every one else in the group, and she had boots that went all the way up to her knees with thick laces and high heels. Her eyelashes looked fake and she looked as though she had just gotten another job done on her nose. **

** "I'm dancing, Cleo. Something you'll never get to do tonight." **

** "Oh?" **

** "My sources tell me that you're boyfriend just left you." **

** Cleo's face turned bright red and furious. "That's has nothing to do with you! You horrible person! What are you supposed to be anyway? Bloody Mary?" **

** All three girls burst out in a fit of laughter. **

** Jade felt her heart sink. **

** "And where's your date huh? I'd be surprised if you even got one." **

** "You know damn well that I have a boyfriend!" **

** "Oh, yeah. That weirdo, Kevin. Well, regardless, I know that no one will dance with you. Not even Kevin will. You'll step all over his feet you stupid little girl. I'm surprised that you haven't let your spirit stay at home where you belong." The laughter started up again. **

** People were staring now. Jade just wanted to sink away. **

** Now it was Hilary's time to step up. "No one wants to dance with a strange little girl that can't even decided what she wants to be for Halloween." **

** "Yeah!" came Andy's smug voice. "I mean. What are you supposed to be huh? Who puts that much though into a costume? It's just pathetic." **

** Cleo came back. "No one wants to dance with you and this if proof of why. Because you hate everything else in life and Halloween is all that's left for you. It's creepy like you and it's the only thing that you like at all anymore. No one would want to dance with…" **

** "May I have this dance?" **

** Their attention was all turned to a tall boy. He had a pinstripe tuxedo on with a bat collar. His mask was a simple skeleton face but it looked oh, so real. He had a long, lanky body with abnormally long arms and as wide smile planted on his mask. It even moved when he spoke. Cleo smiled at him and extended her arm as she said: "Of course." She cast a smug smile towards Jade who sank down where she stood. **

** "I wasn't speaking with you." **

** Cleo looked back at the boy in the skeleton mask, her eyes wide. "W-what?" **

** The boy extended his long fingers towards Jade. She just stood there, lost for words and unable to move. "I was speaking with this young lady right here. May I have this dance?" **

** For a moment Jade didn't speak. Then, with a grin on her face, she took the boy's hand and allowed him to lead her out and onto the dance floor. Leaving Cleo and her crew to be laughed at by the student body. **

** "I'm Jade Ortho." **

** "Pleasure, I'm Jack Skellington." **

** "That works." **

** "I suppose it does." He smiled at her. **

** "It was nice to meet you Jack." **

** "Huh? Nice to meet me?" **

** "Well yes, I have a boyfriend." **

** "Surely he won't mind if you dance with someone else once?" **

** Jade contemplated the matter for a moment. Kevin was usually a good person. If he didn't care for her dancing with someone else she could just apologize and he would forgive her on the spot. It was good to have someone like him. In closing to her thoughts Jade shrugged her shoulders to Jack. "I guess it wouldn't hurt him. Kevin's pretty good when it comes to trust and whatnot." **

** Jack smiled even wider. **

** "Jack, what are you doing?" **

** Jack and Jade looked down to see a little girl. She had a long gown on with cobweb arms and blue jeans. Her black hair fell all around her face and spiked up at the back. Her face was pale like the moon and she had a bat painted on her forehead, although half of it wasn't visible behind her bangs. She glared up at Jack. The girl showed a tremendous amount of strength in her legs and leapt onto Jack's shoulder, making Jade jump back in surprise. "Jack, I'm getting bored." **

** "Is this your sister?" **

** The little girl glared at Jade and made her sink again. "I'm his friend." **

** "Nice to meet you, I'm Jade." **

** "Likewise, I'm Yulee." She turned back to Jack. "When you're done here look for any disturbances down the street. That's where I'll be. Yulee leapt down and started to walk off into the throng. **

** "Don't go throwing eggs at house now…" Jade smiled after her. **

** Yulee turned her head back. "Trust me… I plan to do much… much worse…" Then she disappeared in the immense traffic of the auditorium. This left Jack and Jade stumped. **

** _Angel of darkness _**_  
_**_ Angel of darkness _**_  
_**_ The world is in your hands _**_  
_**_ But I will fight until the end… _**__

** Jack took hold of Jade's left hand and placed his other one of her waist. She wrapped her arms around her neck, for although he was tall she was as well. They moved a few times to the side and then traded positions to the other side. **

**_ Angel of darkness _**_  
_**_ Angel of darkness _**_  
_**_ Don't follow your command _**_  
_**_ But I will fight _**_  
_**_ And I will stand _**_  
_  
** They did a box step to the side. Jack spun Jade around by surprise and nearly lifted her from the floor. She touched her foot on the ground and they moved to the left. **

** _When darkness falls _**_  
_**_ Pain is all _**_  
_**_ The angel of darkness _**_  
_**_ Will leave behind _**_  
_**_ I will… _**_  
_**_ Fight… _**_  
_  
** Jack spun Jade around completely once and then stretched her arm out with his own as they spun in the opposing direction. She let her arms slip from their hold around his neck and she allowed him to separate from her so that they were looking at each other from a meter apart. Yet their hands were still holding tightly. **

**_ The love is lost _**_  
_**_ You cheat and lied _**_  
_**_ Have vanished from god _**_  
_**_ And all delight _**_  
_**_ The dreams are gone _**_  
_**_ Midnight has come _**_  
_**_ The darkness is our new kingdom _**_  
_**_ Yeah _**_  
_**_ Yeah _**_  
_  
** Jack spun her back towards him so that she curled in towards his chest. When the 'lied' came in the song she brushed up against his tuxedo. Jack spun her on an axis and took hold of her right hand. By 'delight' she wrapped her arms around his neck once more. They spun around once and Jack held her waist as he allowed her to stretch down. Jade held onto his neck with one hand as she let her other one go out and curve in an elegant pose. **

** Although the song wasn't complete people were dancing. Jack decided to stop for a while. Jade was glad for that. Although she wasn't tired she didn't think that it would be very good if Kevin saw her dancing with another boy like that. She wasn't even sure if she had actually told Kevin that she could dance at all. Jade turned back to Jack. "That you for the dance Jack. I have to go and meet Kevin now. Maybe I'll see you around school?" **

** Jack smiled but said nothing. **

** Jade walked into the crowd. **

**--- **

** She opened the door to the second floor science classroom. Jade walked in. "Kevin… I don't think that the punch is in here…" She stopped at what she saw. **

** Kevin was sitting on the teacher's desk with a girl in his lap. Jade knew the girl all too well. It was Cleo. She was sitting in her boyfriend's lap, her dress was pulled up far too high and she had her arms wrapped around his neck. Their lips were locked in a kiss and Cleo looked at Jade from the corner of her eye. The minute she saw her she broke off from Kevin. "Uh oh…" **

** Kevin turned to see Jade's form leaving the room in a hurry. "Jade! Wait! I can _explain_!" **

**--- **

** "What's wrong?" **

** Jade looked up surprised. She couldn't see much beyond her tears but she recognized the voice all too well. It was a good voice that she had heard not too long ago. It was one of those voices that you were never able to forget, no matter how hard you tried. But, regardless of that factor, she was happy to hear it. For some reason, it was the only voice that she wanted to hear at all. "Jack? W-why are you here?" **

** "I saw you run in here…" She couldn't see but she felt him sit down next to her. The room seemed a lot more crowed now. Of course that only made sense seeing as they were sitting in a janitorial closet. "I decided to come and check up on you. See if you were all right and all." **

** Jade couldn't contain herself anymore. She threw her arms around Jack and started to sob into his suit. He hurriedly tossed his hands out of the way but she didn't see that. He had a look of surprise plastered on his face. Jade cried long and hard before she spoke again. "Kevin… Kevin cheated on me! I saw him in the science room with Cleo!" Just mentioning it made her sob even harder. **

** Jack lightly patted her head. "Um… D-don't cry. I…" She heard him sigh deep. Jack pushed her away from him and held her shoulders in a friendly grip. He wiped away her tears with his thumb and looked her in the eyes. "I think that I can help you get back at them… Both of them… That is… If you want to…" **

** "I do. More than anything. I want to get back at the both of them for doing this." **

** "Ok… But what I am about to tell you cannot leave this closet ok? What I tell you, you mustn't tell anyone else. You can't tell a single soul about this. All right?" **

** Jade nodded to him **

**--- **

** Kevin stepped out of the building and walked to the old willow tree that sat at the back of the school. The person that he saw standing there under the leaves wasn't whom he had been expecting to see. Cleo was standing there, shivering violently. She looked incredibly cold in the cool air. Kevin walked up towards her. She turned to him with a surprised look on her face. "What are you doing here?" **

** "I could ask you the same question." **

** "I got a note from that guy who asked Jade to dance a little while back. I'm guessing he finally came to his senses and has decided to apologize to me. It won't matter though. Leaving me out here for more than a minute is enough to tick me off again. He'll have to work hard to gain a dance with me now." She turned to him. "What about you?" **

** "I got a note from Jade telling me to come here. She looked pretty mad when… you know…" **

** "I'm not surprised. You _did_ cheat on her after all." **

** Kevin frowned at her. "I don't even know why I did it either. You're such a sadistic person. I don't know how I could have thought that you were better than Jade. She's 10 times the girl that you'll ever be." **

** "Oh, that really hurt. Get a grip." She eyed him intently. "You _know_ you want me." **

** Kevin didn't move. **

** "Kevin? Are you listening to me?" **

** "Kevin's not here… Please leave a message after the beep… beep!" **

** Cleo nearly fell onto her bottom. That voice that came from Kevin's mouth wasn't his. It didn't even sound remotely like his. This voice she had heard before. It was calm yet… scary? She remembered hearing it not too long ago. It was that boy that had asked Jade to dance. The one that had embarrassed her. "H-How…" **

** "Now is not time for how… now is a time for 'oh, no!' What do you think?" **

** "Oh no?" **

** "Ha! You send it!" Kevin, or whoever was using his body, lunged his arms out forwards. They stretched far out of shape and far longer than they should have, wrapping themselves around her body and pinning her to the tree. They wrapped around the trunk and her body once. Twice. Thrice. Then she screamed out loud. That is… before the arms wrapped around her mouth and her eyes. **

** Soon Cleo couldn't see anything at all. She couldn't feel the arms on her body anymore and she couldn't feel the tree against her back either. She couldn't feel the ground and when she stretched her arms out she saw nothing but the black that surrounded her. She floated in and endless void of black… And she was terrified. **

** Cleo screamed out loud. **

** Little did she know but no one could hear her. **

**--- **

** Kevin collapsed to the floor. **

** He didn't know what had just happened. **

** He rubbed his head. **

** It was very sore. **

** He looked around him. There was a pair of small feet not to far from his face. In fact, it was only about 30 centimeters away. When he looked up he saw a tall boy with a skeleton mask and a pinstripe tuxedo. He had long arms and legs with a normal torso and a cue ball head. Kevin smirked. "What's with the stupid outfit?" **

** "What's with the stupid face?" **

** Kevin frowned and stood up. "You're asking for it buddy!" **

** "You mean like she was?" The boy pointed one, long, bony finger towards the tree close to them. **

** Kevin followed his finger's pathway and looked at the very base of the willow. He saw Cleo. She was curled up at the base of the tree, on her side, with her knees tucked right up to her chin. She was shivering and shaking all over; her eyes were wide with fear. **

** "W-what… what did you do to her?" **

** "This…" **

** Kevin looked back at him. **

** He screamed. **

**--- **

** Jade stepped out of the building. There was an ambulance outside of the school and they were loading two teenagers into the car. Kevin and Cleo were the two that they had with them. Cleo was shivering uncontrollably whereas Kevin was struggling to break free with all of his might. **

** "No! He'll get me! He'll get me! Those eyes! He didn't have any! He didn't! He didn't!" **

** She smiled. Jack sure had done a number on them. **

** Jade was aware that he would have already left. He had walked down the street a while ago and had told her not to go outside unless she heard sirens. She had heard them and so she had gone outside. Now she was wondering where Jack would have gone. **

** "_I don't go to this school so you probably won't ever see me again." _**__

**_ "You don't go here? Then why are you here in the first place?" _**__

**_ "Scaring spree…" _**__

**_ "I guess that makes sense…" _**__

**_ "Remember, you can't tell anyone else about what I'm doing for you tonight ok? Well… I guess maybe a few people… Just down tell them my name all right?" _**__

**_ "Right. I promise. I hope you become the pumpkin king." _**__

**_ "What?" _**__

**_ "The pumpkin king. I hope you become the next one. I think you'd be a good king." _**__

**_ Jack had smiled wide at her. "Thank you. That means a lot." Then he had left to scare them. _**_  
_  
** Jade smiled. She knew that he would make a good king… And she really hoped that she would meet him again. **

** Then she turned to head for home. **

**--- **

**Brooke: Second scare! Three more to go! I wrote this whole chapter in one night. That doesn't usually work when it comes to this story but I did it! Whoo! **

**Jack: New review from Musically **

**Brooke: Good. Reeaz was meant to be someone that the audience would be able to hate with every fiber of their being because he's just a jerk. He's actually more but… can't really say all that stuff with this rating… oh well. And I agree… Carl is a weirdo. I based him on my friend, Carden. **

**Fiendmon: Have some cola for this review! You rule!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 13

"I'm bored…"

"Me too…"

Yulee and Jack sat on the park bench. The little dark guardian was leaning against her friend's back and he against hers. Occasionally the two would glance up into the night sky, hoping, with everything, that they would be able to see a star glimmering in the soft black that blanketed the world.

No such luck.

The lights that surrounded them blotted out what stars could have been seen. It was a pure waste of time to bother looking for them. But Jack and Yulee continued to waste their time. They would have given anything to see a beautiful patch of starlight in the middle of such a dreary night.

Though Halloween should have been fun and excitement it was not. The children in the area had retreated to their houses long ago. There wasn't much left for the two Halloweenies to do. The people that were out at the same time as them now were teenagers who wished to grab a few morsels for the night. Jack could see a few of them smashing pumpkins every once and a while. Each time that happened he would scare them off with some supernatural trick. Then he would calmly put the pumpkins back. One time, out of the few dozen times he had done it; an old woman had come out to bop him on the head with a broom. It wasn't until Yulee had stepped in and told her what had really happened did she stop.

Jack sighed. "What is there to do on a Halloween night where there are no children to frighten?"

"I'm not sure. The last time I was here the place was crawling with little kids. Now I can't hardly see any. Plus, I don't see anyone in between. Usually there are the children, the freshmen, and then there are the big high school kids. But I don't see any freshmen tonight."

"Freshmen?"

"It's a term that I use for 9th graders and maybe 7th or 8th as well."

"Huh… I wasn't aware."

"You never had those grades in your time."

"True. But you still could have told me."

"Why?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. He looked up at the sky once more. Still, there were no stars to be seen in the sky. The lights from the ground took up the night sky and possessed the stars so that not one person could see them. The skeleton sighed in unison with the dark guardian as they each looked at their feet in boredom. Jack turned his head slightly so that he could look down at Yulee. "Besides scaring what else is there to do in the human realm?"

"Not too much actually. There's plenty to do any other day but come Halloween and there's nothing."

"There has to be. Think."

Yulee took a little time to think to herself. Jack waited, patiently, on the bench, supporting her as she leaned against him. Yulee snapped her fingers so abruptly that Jack nearly fell over. "I've got it! On Halloween," she said leaping up to face him, "there are always new movie releases. Some of them are the best! Why don't we go and watch a scary movie?"

"What's a movie?"

Yulee went silent. She hadn't ever had to explain what a movie was to someone. She wasn't truly sure herself. She'd seen only a few of the older ones that had come out and so she really had no idea how movies had matured over the years. After all, the movies of old were much different from what she had been hearing about lately. Yulee put her hand on her chin and supported her elbow with her other hand, which, in turn, leaned on the back of the bench. She pouted her face up as she thought about a way in which to explain exactly what a movie was. "Well… A movie is… it's like watching something happen but it is not really happening… get it? Sort of like you're watching something that played out in someone's head but on a much larger screen with lots of children screaming and cell phones going off." Yulee smiled. She was proud of how she had explained it.

"What's a cell phone?"

Her smiled faded and her arms flopped to the side. Yulee grabbed Jack and pulled him along to find a theatre. "Come on…"

---

"So? What should we see?"

Jack looked over the movie choices that hung on the walls of the theatre. He wasn't exactly sure what to pick. He wasn't really sure what was scary and what wasn't. Of course Jack could tell that the movies that didn't even have real people in them wouldn't truly be frightening and Yulee had told him to pick one of the movies that looked frightening. It was a hard thing to do seeing as he didn't know what was what. But he progressed through the ordeal slowly with calm in his actions. "Why don't we try…" He looked at the one to his right. "This one." Jack pointed to it and let his bony finger land on the demented face of a man.

Yulee leaned over to see his choice. "Nightmare on Elm Street? Sounds scary enough. All right then."

"What does the R mean?"

"Huh? Oh, that. We won't have to worry about that. It just means that people under the selected age aren't allowed to see it. We'll be fine."

Jack's left ocular cavity lowered as his other rose. But he followed Yulee with nothing more said. The dark guardian and the skeleton walked over to the booth where a zit-faced boy sat behind a pane of glass. Yulee walked up with her hands behind her back and a smile planted on her face. It surprised Jack to see her smiling so wide. Not through the entire year that he had known her did she smile like that. "Hello," said the zit-faced teenager, less than enthusiastic. "I'm Alphonse, I'll be your movie selector… person… what would you like to see?"

"Can we call you Al?" asked Jack, leaning over from behind Yulee.

Alphonse didn't move. A trickle of something green leaked from his nose and shone, noticeably, in the pale lights of the theatre.

Jack sank back down.

The dark guardian's smile faded lightly.

Yulee placed some money on the countertop and the zit-faced boy glanced down at it, his red hair falling in front of his face. He looked back at Yulee by moving just his eyes. His head remained pointed at the money. "Two tickets for 'Nightmare on Elm Street please."

Alphonse took half of the money and pressed a red button on the side of the booth. They waited as one ticket popped up. Alphonse took it and signalled to Jack who stepped forward to take it. The teenager snorted the green up his nose and then, for no particular reason at all, let the arm with the ticket in it slide under his arm to wipe away what was left. The ticket became coated in a thick blanket of mucus. Jack grimaced as he took the ticket between his thumb and forefinger. "One ticket for the Nightmare on Elm Street."

Yulee frowned as she stepped forward again. "Um, excuse me," she declared, waving her hand at Alphonse's face, "I asked for **two** tickets… please."

"Read the sign."

"We did."

"Then you should know that this movie is rated R. That means…" he leaned over in his seat as he smiled in an odd manner at Yulee, "that people of your age cannot get in. Please leave the booth or buy a ticket for another movie. May I suggest The Witches?" He pointed to a movie sign with a tall woman clad in purple and a hood with a demon in the background. There was a mouse on her gown and two people, one a boy child and one a girl old person, at the bottom. "But, then again, that may still be too scary for someone as young as you. Maybe you should just go home and go to bed. Don't forget to turn on your nightlight little girl." Alphonse snorted a little bit.

"I assure you. I am perfectly capable of watching the film that I selected. I far surpass the age limit to it."

"No."

"I said…"

"No."

"That's all right Yulee," Jack stepped up to her. "We'll just watch The Witches."

Yulee crossed her arms with a glare of anger plastered upon her pale face. "But I don't want to watch some stupid baby movie that should be…" She trailed off into a mutter as she continued with what she had to say. Then she plucked the rest of her money and popped it into her jeans pocket.

Jack placed the ticket on the countertop and smiled at Alphonse. "We'd like to exchange this ticket for one of the ones for that movie please."

"No exchanges."

Yulee looked up. "What?" She practically tore through the glass. Her claws shoved out again from underneath her long sleeves and her teeth were bared. Yulee leapt towards the glass, no longer on the ground, her temper raised far past what it should have been for such a predicament. Jack had to hold her back as she tried to claw through the glass. The dark guardian glared at Alphonse through the glass as he scrambled out of his seat and, in a panic, fell to the ground. "Listen here you slimy, little worm! You refund my money or I will shred you into such tiny pieces that no one will be able to find anything that looks, remotely, like you." She tore at the glass as best as she could while Alphonse cowered on the floor of the booth.

Jack was finally able to pull the little person away. Her foot had slipped which had, in tern, left her open and weak against his pull. She was yanked away from the booth fast and Jack tore around the corner of the movie theatre, Yulee still in his grasp. He ended up in an ally just beside the complex with Yulee still struggling to break free. She cried out and whined for what seemed like an hour. Eventually her interest in the matter fell and Yulee went limp in his arms. Jack looked at her once and then set her on the ground. Then he rubbed his head. "Geez, Yulee. You really have to work on your short temper…"

"I do not have a short temper!" The dark guardian turned away from him so that she was facing the street. She folded her arms in front of her chest and frowned. Yulee, to him, didn't look happy at all. Not just from being called too young for a movie despite her age but also for being deprived of the right to finish her victim.

Jack frowned and scratched his head in thought. He attempted to figure out a solution to their little problem. One, single thought came to him. It seemed to be good enough to use. "If you still want to get into the movie… why don't you just teleport?"

Yulee's face went blank and her lips seemed to sink down on her countenance. Her arms fell to the side and she fell to the ground. The dark guardian landed on her bottom and thrust her hands up towards her head as she screamed lightly to herself. "You've got to be kidding me! Why didn't I think of that before? I could have saved my money!"

"I didn't think of it either. It wasn't too obvious. Does that make you feel better?"

Yulee's arms fell between her legs and she glared up at Jack, her lips pouted. "You're an idiot… Yes it was… and no, it doesn't."

"Well… we'll still see the movie. I'll just go in the normal way. You can teleport in."

Yulee stood up slowly and stretched her arms far above her head, hands interlocking at the top. She practically stood on her tiptoes as she did so. "Fine. I guess that I can live with that. But don't forget to get some popcorn and drinks… actually… I'll do it. You just go in. I'll meet you in the front row. After all… you want to be able to **feel** the **splatter**…"

"S…Spl…Splatter?"

"Yeah…" She rubbed her hand against her top and then blew on her fingers lightly facing the ally. Her black portal appeared before them and Yulee stepped inside. Jack heard her call out: "See you inside!"

"Y… Yulee! Wait!"

She was gone.

---

"Is she gone?"

Jack nodded.

Alphonse sat up in his seat. He straightened his clip-on tie and then motioned towards the doorway into the theatre. "You'll want the Nightmare on Elm Street theatre where it's being played. You'd better hurry; it's going to start soon. You won't miss it because it's practically the only one open. Look for the mean girl when you get in." Then Alphonse turned back into his boring self and wiped away, yet another, dribble of mucus.

The skeleton grimaced and then walked past the booth. He pushed on the door that lead into the centre and was amazed at what stood before him. He was in a large yellow room. There were many varying doors all around him with black velvet coating the rim of each one. Jack found that he sort of liked how the colours went so well together. There was a bar in the centre of the room with machines and two people behind it. There was one girl and one boy. The boy was leaning against the bar. He had black hair with a spot of it that was blonde and looked a little surprised. The girl had plain brown hair tied up in a ponytail with a few strands hanging in front of her dark brown face. She was standing and was backed up against the machines. The poor girl looked utterly terrified. Jack noticed that there was a small tuft of black smoke fading away from the spot in front of the register. Jack, curious as he was, walked over to the bar to see what had happened.

"Um… Excuse me…?" The boy turned his attention from the spot beside Jack and looked at him. The girl was still too scared to move. Jack smiled at him and rubbed his head. "Did you just see anything… weird happen here?"

The teenager blinked once and looked at Jack with a blank, wide-eyed expression. "Yeah, a chick just teleported in here, bought some candy, and then teleported out."

"Oh, really? What did she get?"

"Popcorn… M&Ms… Two drinks… and some Skittles."

"I can't believe you actually served her! She teleported! Teleported! I've said it once and I'll say it again, you're crazy, Ichigo!" The girl at the back was practically tearing her head off. She looked like she was in a complete mess.

Jack nodded to them and then hurried off. He spotted the doorway that had a mean looking girl at the front and then walked over to that. She did, indeed, look pretty mean. Her hair was died dark purple and was short. Her uniform was torn at the top and she had the most horrible scowl on her face. Jack handed her the ticket. The girl clipped it without a word, handed it back to him and then pointed inside, glaring from under her bangs.

The skeleton stepped inside and hurried to the few front rows. He couldn't see Yulee anywhere…

"Jack! Over here!"

"Shh!"

"Oh! Shut up will you! It hasn't even started yet!" Jack turned to see Yulee standing on one of the chairs. She had her hands over her head and the most horrible look of anger on her face again. Jack tensed with nervousness as he crossed to her. "You're worried about seeing the before commercials and credits you old prune! God! You're such a gnome!"

"Don't be so rational!" came a man's voice, of whom it belong to Jack could not see.

"Don't tell me how to react!"

"Calm down!" A different man's voice.

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

"Are you even old enough to be here?" A woman this time.

"YES I'M OLD ENOUGH!!"

"Yulee…" The dark guardian looked up at her friend. "Sit down. You'll get kicked out."

"I can just teleport back in."

Jack eyed her.

Yulee frowned. "Fine…" she said sitting down. "But this doesn't mean that I can't cause a fuss later on…"

The skeleton smiled and sat down next to her. He was glad that she hadn't gone crazy again. The last thing that he wanted to deal with was another fit like the one she had shown at the ticket booth. He raised his finger as the last of the commercials ended and the movie started. It looked bent a little bit. He snapped it back into place and then grabbed his drink from Yulee.

The movie started.

---

Yulee sighed. She leaned back in her chair and looked to the right. Jack wasn't really in his chair. He was leaning forward so much that it was a surprise he could still support himself like that. It was an even bigger surprise that he didn't just fall out of the chair. His ocular cavities were intensely locked on the screen as he watched as Freddie tore away at the life of yet another victim.

The dark guardian had lost interest in the film a while ago. She found Freddie to be far too predictable. He was just another serial killer… but with supernatural powers. Although it made him seem scary he was just the same old guy he was before they burned him. It was just that now he was using more bloodied ways to kill his victims instead of doing it at home where he was limited. Yulee had to give him props for sneaking into their homes but then she just deducted them again because he would have such an easy time getting in.

"Jack, she whispered. "Jack; let's have some fun. Come on, I'm bored."

"Shh…"

"But…"

"Shh…"

Yulee frowned. "This movie is no fun…"

---

Jack stopped his clapping and smiled down at Yulee. "Wow, that was a good movie. Don't you think so?"

"No."

If Jack had had eyes he would have rolled them.

Yulee leapt to her feet, her hands in fists and up by her chest. "I know! Let's have a scare! Right now! It'll be great! There are plenty of people to frighten here so we know that this one will be good! They won't have anywhere to run if we block out the doorway! Watching them run away and scream will be lots of fun! Please Jack! Please! Just one scare! Please!"

"Well… I guess so. Ok then."

"Use that new trick that Leon taught to you."

"The one with all of the ghouls?"

"Yeah, that one!"

"What do you think? Purple with fog?"

"Make them float in from the ceiling and the walls too."

"Right." Jack raised his arms up close to his face and took a deep breath. His eye sockets closed as he relaxed himself. The people in the theatre remained oblivious to the actions of the Halloweenies in the front row. They remained blissfully unaware that they would soon be in so the fright of their lives.

Jack concentrated hard.

His eyes stayed closed as he thought hard to himself. The tenuous task of transforming took a great amount of mind power, much more than possessing someone or stretching. No, to transform he had to concentrate hard on one single thing. Jack pictured the room as he wished it to be. Usually he would have had difficulty doing something so grand in such a large place with so many people. But on Hallows Eve, with Yulee beside him, urging him along with enthusiasm, he felt all that more powerful and all that more capable of doing what he wanted.

---

The doors slammed shut in front of three teenagers exiting the movie theatre. Their eyes went wide for a moment. Then the others behind them approached as the adolescents began to pound on the doorway. Sadly, the door did not move and they remained trapped inside the complex.

"What's the hold up here? Open the doors and let us out."

"We're trying. But they won't open up."

"Let me through I'll… what's this?" The man looked down at his loafers. Something had seeped its way past the sole and had inched closely to his socks. He pulled his foot upwards and frowned as his leg refused to move. "What's going on here? I can't move my foot!" He pulled up hard. His shoe lifted slowly into the air and he was able to catch a glance of what held it back in the dim light of the room.

The floor had been coated in a strange, sticky, substance that engulfed his loafers and made it so that he was unable to move. Slowly, a thick, purple fog emerged from within the carpet itself and began to blanket the floor like the black did the night. The people left in the theatre began to stare at their feet in both wonder and fear. They inched into a huddle close to the doorway, hoping that the doors would open.

Sadly, they did not.

There was a scream as the screen of the theatre lit up again. The people were unable to see it from where they were so, after gathering his bravery; one man stepped out to investigate the owner of the scream. He closed in on the corner of the staircase and peered around to see the screen. What he saw made him sink to the floor in fear, only to be engulfed by something that hid within the flooring.

Ghosts, ghouls, goblins delight, poured from the thin lining of the movie screen. They clawed at the edges and worked their ways outwards towards the real world. Towards the human realm. They moved with the fog that coated the floor and stretched to regain the bodies that they had so lost in the darker realms that they dwelled within. Their heads took shape as their arms curled and their fingers flexed to the air that greeted them. One goblin, as he released his dripping visage from the thin fabric, smiled at the poor woman that stood on the stairwell. She screamed with surprise again and, this time, ran all the way down, only to be greeted by more goblins that bounded out of the ground to tug on the ends of her dress.

The ghosts floated around the room, sweeping through the bodies of the people as they attempted to hide from the horror. Cold chills from fear and death wrinkled through their forms and engulfed them making them shiver and call out in surprise.

Ghouls coated the floors, moving with the fog, and stretched up in front of or behind people to terrorize them or make them squeal with fright. Each horrible entity moved with the hand gestures of their master. The one that had released them from their eternal prison moved elegantly and swayed his hands to the motions he wished them to make. Their death and fear, which they carried with them at all times, coated the citizens of the theatre and had them scream with anxiety.

---

Jack smiled. He was enjoying himself very much. Scaring the people of the theatre was making him feel very good about himself, despite the fact that he was completely and utterly terrifying them. He glanced down at Yulee, not moving his head really, as his arms swayed with the purple, ominous air that he had inserted into the atmosphere.

The dark guardian was close to a few goblins that danced and wondered with their freedom. She led them on to scare a group of teenagers that had been trapped by a ghoul close to the end of the stairwell near the far wall. They danced and panicked the adolescents, having merry fun the entire time. Yulee glanced back at Jack and smiled at him.

He smiled back at his small friend and then proceeded with his fright of the night.

Jack watched as the people hurried to the doors. To add to the drama he coated the walls with vines that reached and threatened to take a hold of them. He found it strange that he enjoyed watching them hurry out of the way to avoid the plants. The skeleton inched them closer to the doors making the teenagers jump back and hurry away as quick as they could.

Jack smiled with Halloween spirit.

"What are you doing?"

His mind snapped back to attention as he looked down at one child. The boy looked far too young to have seen the movie but he also didn't move as the goblins and ghouls continued prancing close to him. The small child had jet-black hair and a face so innocent looking that he could have been the nicest boy to grace the earth. His clothes were black as well, far too large for his tiny body, and he had one red stripe that went across his chest. His eyes shone bright blue in the dim light that the purple air provided.

For the moment Jack's heart remained quiet. He did sink down where he stood at the sight of the child but he stayed where he was and continued motioning his arms.

"What are you doing?" he repeated.

Jack's mind went blank. _What am I doing? I've had my fun. Why do I continue in this fruitless effort? For my own amusement? When have I ever been that selfish?_

As if hearing his thoughts the child answered: "Never."

Jack turned back to him. Instead of the boy that he had seen before he saw one completely different. This boy had bright blonde hair and eyes purple like the air. His white top stood out with his black overalls. This new child had a very rounded head with a pale face and a wide smile as well as large eyes that gave him a look of innocence, just like the first boy.

Jack's arms fell.

Responding to this the goblins sank into the floor, engulfed by the black portals that would lead them back to their home. The ghouls disappeared into the walls and the ghosts evaporated where they floated. Air began clear again as the fog on the ground loosened and, eventually, lost its grip on the world. The light that had been there before replaced the dark of the room. Vines sank back into the walls like the ghouls or dissolved where they were and crumbled to the floor. The people hurried out the doors as they swung open. Jack watched as they went.

He turned back to where the children had stood but they were gone. He assumed that they had hurried out with the rest of the throng to immerse in the world once more and head home.

Yulee approached him, looking at the soggy ground as she walked up to him, slowly. She stood next to him and looked at her bare feet. They were wrinkled and slightly sore. She looked back up to Jack. His face remained turned. His eyes remained locked on the spot where the children had been. She followed his gaze to see what he wished to look at but found nothing that would have been worth the part. Yulee tugged on his arm.

Jack looked down at his friend.

"What's wrong, Jack?"

"Uh…" He looked to the spot for a moment and then turned back to her. "Nothing. I just thought that I saw someone."

"It's not good to see things you know." Yulee marched out of the room, her hands behind her head and her legs kicking up high. She leaned back as she walked, batting her wings lightly to keep herself from falling over.

Jack followed her out of the theatre, glancing at the spot before ducking out of sight. The sight of those two boys had broken something beneath the surface of his subconscious. His mind continuously looked back to their memory, trying not to forget their faces. That was what he wanted to keep. Visions of their innocent faces. The black child had seemed so strange, tormented even. But the blonde child… no… he looked more so. That child had looked familiar to Jack.

As he continued out of the complex, with his dark guardian friend, he tucked the thoughts of them away for a glance later on.

The police arrived in a few minutes.

By that time Jack and Yulee were long gone.

---

Brooke: Not much to say for this chapter. I think that I really poured myself into this one. At the time I was listening to the song, 'Insanity' by Oingo Bingo with a display of JHTM scans that someone had altered. Anyways, I believe that we have more reviews to take into account for this chapter. Also, I apologize for how late this chapter is. I had a black earlier on and I couldn't break it.

Zim: Yes, yes… Get on with the review pitiful human! I demand to answer the review sent to us by mushi6618!!

Brooke: Glad you liked the chapter. By the way, nice choice on the new name, I like it. Thank you for you kind compliments on my story, I really appreciate them, and you rock for hating Cleo and her posy. In the previous chapter Jack didn't tell her too much, just what she would have needed to know for him to do what he did. (Him being dead, no being from the 'real' world, paranormal abilities, etc.) She was instructed to not go outside because Jack was afraid that he could scare her by accident. Sorry about the grammar. I check this chapter once or twice so it should be good.

Jack: Now we have something to say concerning the review sent to us by Sugary Snicket.

Brooke: No one has to worry about this. Sugary and I have already conversed on this matter and have sorted it out so that all is understood. I was not plagiarizing but it is understandable why such thoughts could come of this story. All has been set aside and all is right in the world again. Anyways, enjoy the rest of the fic.

Also, I'll be appearing in the following chapter. It was an experience that was taken from my past, which I will explain at the beginning of the chapter. Enjoy the site and review please. I enjoy reading your comments.


	15. Chapter 14

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 14

"What was that back there? You looked like you'd seen a ghost… And I don't mean the good kind." Yulee looked up at the skeleton walking next to her. Jack had remained quiet ever since they had left the theatre. He hadn't spoken to her and he hadn't taken his eyes off of his feet the entire time that they had walked. Counting up the minutes it was clear that they'd been on their feet for about an hour and a half now and the silence was killing Yulee. She couldn't stand for it.

The night around them was quite beautiful. There were quaint little houses that lined along the roads and a school could be seen. In the area that they were currently occupying there were many more children, even for such a late hour.

They wandered up and down the street, going from door to door with large pillowcases and wondrous costumes. Their eyes were bright with excitement and the Halloween spirit. The tiny pitted patter of their feet echoed down the road and merged with the giggles that escaped from their open mouths.

Jack didn't even seem to react to the beauty of the area around them. It was as though the wind even danced towards the drumming of the children's' feet. It was an amazing combination of sounds and actions. Not a bad thought dwelled within their minds. It was simple sun for a simple community. There wasn't really much to go on at that time. Yulee was surprised that Jack hadn't even noticed the sky as of yet. She liked that the most. The stars were clearly visible in the clear night. Hardly any street lamps were on and while that posed a threat to the children wandering the streets it seemed to add to the beauty of the neighbourhood. It was difficult to ignore the wondrous ease that enveloped you whenever you were to look as such a scene. Yet Jack seemed to be able to ignore the entire place and merely wrap himself up in his thoughts. There he would allow his mind to muster quietly as he thought to himself.

Yulee sighed.

"Jack, answer me. Please. I know that something's wrong…" She stopped on the street and looked at her feet. "Friends should be able to talk to one another about problems. I know that you have one because you won't say anything to me. You're ignoring the world and it's not like you to do that…" Yulee looked back up.

Jack had continued down the street in the direction that they had been going. Children ran past him in an attempt to acquire more sweets before the night's end.

Yulee could feel her eye twitch with irritation. Her pulse was plainly visible through the pulsing vein on her temple.

The dark guardian ducked forward, bounding from side to side as she went to gain momentum. She circled around to face Jack's front. When he remained in his transfixed state and said nothing to her she bounded off of the ground and onto his chest. There she took hold of his tuxedo and pulled it up close to her scowling visage. "Listen here you bag of bones! I've been doing the best I can to be a supportive friend tonight but you're really starting to work my nerve! You see this? I'm pulsing veins because of you! Now either you tell me what's wrong or I beat it out of you like a good friend should!"

Jack's eye sockets closed once or twice. He looked around him, slightly confused. AS he shifted his gaze back to Yulee his eyes went wide with bewilderment. Jack scratched his head a little bit. "Hi Yulee. When did we get here? And… did you grow?"

She sank down his front and slumped to the ground in a heap. Her eyes were glazed over and her mouth open with her left eye twitching, noticeably. She rubbed her head as a headache came on. "I don't get you boys at all. One minute you're all moody and the next you're all… 'When did we get here'? I don't understand men at all…"

"Funny. It's the same with most men concerning women." Jack shrugged it off. "I guess it's a perspective thing.

"Yeah… Sure… Perspective." Yulee leapt to her feet. She let her hands rest on her hips as she glared at Jack. "Now you have to tell me what the hell happened in the movie theatre. I don't know what the hell you saw but it looked like it scared you enough to put you into a state of walking shock or something!"

"Walking shock?"

"Well I don't know what to call it! Call it what you will it was freaky nonetheless. It was even freaky in Halloween town standards."

"That _is_ pretty freaky."

"Yeah! So what happened?"

"Well…"

There was a scream from down the street. It echoed around but no one seemed to pay any attention to it. They continued in their candy trips and clung to each other in their groups. Not literally of course but in this manner of speaking. They stayed close to one another and paid little attention to the cries for help as they echoed around the neighbourhood.

Jack jumped to attention instantly. He tore down the street in search of the person that had called out. His legs carried him through the area fast and left Yulee standing on the curb with her crossed arms falling to her side. She glared after him with a look of contempt.

"I try to help you and this is what I get? Sheesh…" Yulee took a breath and allowed the black of her portal to engulf her body. No one saw. Each child and each person was immersed in their candy collecting. They each failed to see the dark guardian disappear before them and vanish into a black tuft of smoke.

---

Jack pulled himself to a stop after skirting around a family on the corner. He stood close to a particularly large house. The wood was painted black yet it was pealing with old age. The windows, which cluttered all around the house, were near all broken or shattered and some seemed to be falling out of place. The door was practically falling off of it hinges. There was a tower to the left of the house but it looked to have a caved in roof and didn't look as though it could support another person setting foot there. It wasn't as bad as a place as it seemed but it could have used an awful lot of work in terms of maintenance.

He took a deep breath and leaned down. Jack let his hands rest on his knees and he caught his breath. He'd run an awfully long way. That voice had carried right down the long road behind him. He'd even had to pass by Malvern, the local high school, to get there. Jack sighed out and straightened himself up.

"Quite a long way to go." Yulee materialized in front of him. "Wouldn't you say so?"

"Can you not do that? You make me all jumpy."

"Think of me as reflex practice. By the way, if you wanted to get here faster you could have just used one of my portals. They're always open to friends."

"But you got here after me."

"I could have gotten here before the scream if I'd wanted to. Plus I'm not out of breath."

"You could have gotten here before the scream?"

Yulee looked up at him. "There are so many things that you have yet to know about Dark Guardians my friend."

Jack patted the young-looking girl on the shoulder. "Be sure to enlighten me when we return."

There was another scream that erupted from within the house. Jack looked around, desperately, at the people in the area. "Why does no one do anything?"

A young girl hurried out of the complex. She screamed as she went. The girl had on a pink dress and was a little bit bulky around the middle. She had brown hair and an awful lot of scars. Or perhaps they were early pimples? Whatever the case she had an awful lots of them. It was plain on her face seeing as she looked up at Jack after crashing into his legs and knocking him to the ground. The little girl looked terrified out of her wits. She merely stared at Jack for a second, he back at her. Yulee remained right side up, tapping her foot lightly on the ground.

"You see Jack? Nothing to worry about. Just a stupid kid getting scared in an old, spooky house. There's nothing worth going after here. That's why no one did anything."

"I'm not a stupid kid!" yelled the child. "I'm real smart!"

"You weren't smart enough for that!" A fit of laughter erupted from with the house. Their eyes glanced up to the second floor, fifth right hand window. There was a small, bald-headed, dark skinned boy. He had a mask, of what they could not see, seated on top of his head. The strap looked to be broken or in two, connectable pieces. His shirt was white but looked to be stained with blood. It was, of course, fake.

The girl leapt to her feet and started in a run back to the house's front door. "Jake you jerk! It was you all along!"

"No it wasn't! It was Brooke!"

The girl hurried back into the house. There was a horrifying sound, like flesh being sliced and then there was the gurgling of a blood filled mouth. Jack and Yulee watched and listened as the girl screamed and stumbled back outside. She tripped over the broken floorboards and fall onto her back, crushing the false, pink, fairy wings that she had on. She slammed her fist onto the deck and screamed out loud. "Brooke! I'm going to kill you!"

"No you won't," came a high, childish voice. It seemed as raspy as it did sweet, which didn't really seem possible, but that's how it was. (This is how my friends described my voice.) "You couldn't catch a turtle if you wanted to!"

"I could too!"

"Could not!"

"Could too!"

"Could not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

The childish wordplay continued for quite some time as the little girl rose to her feet and wandered back into the house. The two Halloweenies remained on the curb, close to the road, listening to the bickering that went on between the children inside. From what they heard there was also another boy in the building. His name was Michael and, from listening further, they were able to determine that the girl in the fairy costume held the name, Victoria.

Yulee looked down to Jack, he was still seated on the ground where the little girl had knocked him down. "They don't seem like the best of friends now, do they?"

He lightly shook his head into a no.

The dark guardian snapped her fingers with an idea. She pulled Jack to his feet and brushed him off, using her wings to reach higher up. In the area they were in it didn't seem to matter because none of the locals really paid any attention to what they were going. She smiled up at him and seated herself, in her favourite spot, on his left hand shoulder. "This is a good scare spot Jack. Four kids in an old, haunted building? It's a pretty good spot. Much better than where I was thinking of going…"

"Where's that?"

"A casino in Los Vegas."

Jack's face went blank at that. "I'm not sure what a 'casino' is, but ok."

---

Victoria hurried out of the room. She was panting heavily now. The girl leaned down and sat against an extremely dusty wall as she attempted to catch what little breath she could before her stalker came unto her again. It was unnerving playing hide and seek with her friends. Jake was an incredible hider; Michael could climb up to the ceiling and use that as a hiding place if he had truly wanted to. He was pretty tall, even for his age. Then there was Brooke, who always seemed to enjoy seeking more than she did hiding. It was as though she could follow you wherever you went.

Victoria took a deep breath and tried to relax. Wandering in the old house always seemed to give her the creeps. She had never liked going in there but her friends did and she had always wanted to fit in right. Truly, if you were to look at it from a stranger's perspective, she didn't fit in with the group at all. Where she was cautious the others were reckless and they enjoyed going dangerous things. What scared her most was when they would come to her house and ask her if she wanted to go to the beach, in the middle of the night. Of course they hadn't knocked but had, instead, tossed stones at her window until she answered.

She let her hand rest on the ground. It brushed up against something warm and fuzzy. As she turned her head, expecting to see a dust bunny, she found herself screaming out loud in fight.

Crawling over her fingers was the largest mouse that she had ever seen. It could have even been a sewer rat! She was frozen so still that the creature, somehow, avoided running at her scream and wriggled her fingers about. It was as if the rodent enjoyed it greatly. Victoria continued to scream, hoping that someone would come to help her.

The rat was lifted from her skin and put in the pale hands of a small girl. She was much shorter than Victoria and was skinny beyond belief. Her dark brown hair was all about in her face from running and her brown eyes were slowly eyeing the rat over. The girl turned the rodent in her fingers and allowed it to crawl up to her elbow. If it attempted to move further up she would switch it onto the other arm. Victoria watched as the girl rested her brown eyes on her. "Really Victoria. Are you scared of rats?"

"Yes! Duh! Of course I'm scared! They're scary!"

"Rats aren't scary. They're just unlike what you like. You see…" Brooke indicated to the rat's ears. "This little guy is deaf."

"How do you know?"

"When you screamed did didn't notice and you can see that there's dried blood in his left ear…"

"Blood?!"

"Yeah, why? What's wrong with blood?"

"It's blood! Blood! B-L-U-D! Blood!"

Brooke looked a little bit lost for words. She turned her head slightly towards her friend and inched forwards a little bit. The rat remained in her hands as it wriggled within her grasp. But she didn't let it go. Brooke leaned in to Victoria. Of course the hulky girl leaned back more so. She didn't feel like being near Brooke after she had touched a rat! It was a rat!

Brooke extended a finger and tapped Victoria's arm. The girl shrieked and wiped away at the spot with a cloth that she pulled out of her sleeve. She hurriedly wiped at the mark as Brooke stood there, laughing. Victoria frowned at her once she had stopped. "You think that this is funny? It's not!"

"Sure it is. You're it."

Victoria went blank.

"Hey…" came a voice from the main hallway. The two girls's recognized it to be Jake's voice. He seemed confused and slightly distressed. "Who are you? You shouldn't be in here. So leave or we'll call our friends. They know karate and they'll kick your butts."

"My, my," exclaimed the voice of another girl. She seemed older than them just from her voice. She also seemed slightly different than most girls that they knew from the area. Usually they could tell everyone apart from their voices or name but this one was strange. She was a stranger. "How naughty of you two boys. It's not nice to exclude someone from the fun and games that can reside in an old house. It would be rude to force us to take leave of such a wondrous abode, even though you do not hold custody over it."

"Huh?"

"She means," said Brooke as she wandered into the room with Victoria, "that since we don't live here it's not polite to kick her out like that. And I agree, it's true." Brooke turned to the girl. She gave her once over. The girl was obviously taller than her, almost Michael's height, with skin as pale as hers and hair as black as the night. She had a pair of jeans on underneath a very short cloak and a pair of wings on that seemed to move on their own. Her eyes were bright red, most likely from coloured contacts, and her mouth opened slightly to see fangs.

There was also a man next to her. Yes, a man. He had pale skin, not as pale as the girl's but pale nonetheless. His eyes were a deep blue, possibly even purple. His blonde hair stood up, unevenly, in places around his head. It was a very stylish look but not a practical one for the neighbourhood that they were currently in. His outfit consisted of a black, pin-stripe tuxedo with two folds of fabric dragging from the back. He had a white shirt, clearly visible from the gap in his suit, and a bat collar around his neck. Very festive.

Brooke eyes them both. "But, if you're from around here, you should know that this is our place."

"Is it now?" came the man.

"It is. Every group around here has a place. Why don't you go down the playground and hang out underneath the slide with the dorks?"

There was an eruption of giggling that followed her statement. Brooke smiled wickedly at the man and the girl. Her smile broadened when they turned to leave. She waited as they retreated towards the doorway. The man placed his long, slander fingers over the knob. He turned and was ready to leave. Then he stopped and turned back to her. "Tell you what, we'll play a game of hide-and-go-seek. If we win you allow us to remain in the house. If you, however, beat us, then we will gladly take leave and allow you to continued in you merry pleasure."

"Eh?" came Michael.

"He means that if we win he leaves but if we lose he gets to stay."

"Oh."

Brooke turned back to him. "Ok, what's the catch? There's always something up with strangers. I know that something's on your mind."

"No catch. We just feel like enjoying a night with four fine little children. That's all."

"I'm not totally convinced but ok. You can play with us." She extended her hand towards the man and the girl beside him. They seemed hesitant to shake and Brooke found this odd seeing as they were, obviously, much older. (It's true. That did happen.) But soon the man took her hand and shook it up and down, firmly, once. "Nice to meet you," she said, letting go. "I'm Brooke."

"Likewise, I'm Jack."

"Michael," said Michael.

"Victoria," said Victoria.

"Jake," said Jake.

"Yulee," said the pale girl.

---

Michael took a breath. He could hear Jack in the kitchen, which was nearly three rooms away. The man had a pretty loud, and noticeable voice. He could hear him, not completely clearly but he could nonetheless. Michael looked around him; he was in another main hallways just in front of the living room. There weren't too many good places to hide that would conceal his tall figure. So he took the next best thing. Michael looked up, sure enough there was an old looking chandelier hanging from a beam. There was a hole above the beam that led onto the second floor so it the wood was to snap he wouldn't fall. That place had to be his favourite hiding spot,

Michael took hold of one of the footholds that he and Jake had dug into the walls not 3 weeks ago. They were pretty sturdy so that he was able to climb to the topmost one. There he gripped onto a rope that Brooke and Victoria had securely fastened for him. He was able to them swing himself over to the chandelier and grip onto the beam above it. Michael held on tightly and sat up with triumph.

"Fancy footwork for a kid."

Michael turned to his side. It was the girl from the front hallway. She smiled at him but she wasn't all that far up as he was. Instead she was on the chandelier. Yulee seemed to be able to balance perfectly. "How… how can you do that?"

"I am really light."

"How'd you get up here?"

"Uh… same way as you did."

"How'd you know about my spot?"

"It looked pretty clear when I came by it."

"Michael." He looked into the hole to see Brooke's pale face. She glanced over at Yulee and then turned back to her friend. "The Jack guy's on the move. He's pretty good from what I can tell, he almost caught Jake. I've hidden Victoria well. Don't move from here unless you really have to."

"Ok."

She turned to Yulee. "And this is a fair game. Don't give out Michael's location or you lose automatically."

"Moi? Why, I wouldn't dream of doing such a despicable act." The lies were clear in her voice but the children ignored them.

Brooke hurried out of the way.

Michael and Yulee were left alone in the hallway. Jack's slowly approaching footsteps, along with the wind blowing outside, was all that could be heard.

---

Jack stalked through the hallways of the old mansion. It was really quite difficult to pinpoint where the children had hidden. Occasionally he would hear the sounds of a child in a room or scurrying from one place to another but by the time he got there they had already left. On more than one account he had heard a child talking loudly. When he followed the sounds of the voice he always came to an empty area. It wasn't until he came to a closet and could still hear the voice did he realize that one of the children, Jake, had the ability to throw his voice. Jack was very impressed. The children were quite good. (We had a lot of practise, lol; no one could ever beat us!)

The 'man' peeped into the living room. He saw plenty of dusty, cloth covered furniture but he never found a trace of the children. It even seemed, when he looked at the floor, that they had cleaned the wood of all dust particles to make for a better game.

It was unnerving to find that mere children could avoid him like that. Jack was, however, having a great deal amount of fun.

Ten minutes passed with still no sign of the children. He had heard them clambering about the house every once and a while. It was obvious that they kept on their toes so as not to have their bodies fall asleep or lose interest in the game. On a number of times he had seen and spoken with Yulee before she ducked away into the shadows once more. She'd given him information on where the children enjoyed hiding the most after watching them. But once he reached there they had already left.

Yulee popped in front of his face. "Do it Jack, come on. Scare them now. It's the perfect time. We can go a spectral sweep of the house. It'll scare everyone out and then I could open a portal beneath their feet and transport them back home. It'll have been the most terrifying things that they would have ever seen! Plus, we'll be doing their parents a favour by having them go home soon."

"I was going to wait a little while longer but I guess you're right. Now would be a good time. All right. I'll do the sweep." Jack clapped his hands together fast. They spread apart slowly, dragging, with them, a stream of silver strands.

The silver threads of light acted light hands. Their claws curled to the festering and decomposed air in the abode. Forms acted on their own and swept down the hallways, slowly. They sank into cracks and moved past cobwebs hanging form the walls and ceilings. There was a great fuss between them and reality as Jack could see his first attempt dissipate after only leaving him. His strands of energy had hardly made it to the end of the hall before they were absorbed by the fowl aura of the complex and what sat around them.

Jack frowned. "They weren't supposed to do that."

"Try it again."

He did so but was met with the same dilemma. He found that he wasn't able to have them go very far. And this time they seemed to have less movement capabilities available to them. They weren't even able to move past a two-meter radius. "

"What's going on?" Jack asked, frustrated. "Why won't my Halloween magic work?"

"Halloween magic?"

They peered up into the rafters. There was a hole just above a beam that supported the chandelier. Inside that hole was one of the children. Her eyes were inquisitive, her hair falling in front of her face. Brooke glared down them, occasionally looking at the places where the magic hands had disappeared. She frowned and turned back to Yulee. "What's Halloween magic? Who are you? Monsters?"

"Uh…"

Jack was never given the chance to give the child a proper answer. At that moment a scream, unlike anything that he had ever heard before, erupted from two floors up. He practically jumped out of his skin. That is, if his skin were real, then he might have done so.

But Jack's skin was just what Yulee had told him about when they passed through the portals. She had sucked him into the realm to gain a full coat of flesh seeing as he would have to preserve his magic for the Silver Sweep. It was a very effective substance, that made from the intertwined Portalings. Jack was happy that it could coat him and allow him to move freely.

Moving back to the matter at hand…

Jack hurried for the staircase that was not too far away from him. Yulee spread her wings out wide to swoop into the air as quickly as she could. Brooke jumped back as she burst through the floorboards. Wooden planks and splinters were thrown about the area with no regard for where they went. The child covered her face but left one small spot open to watch the dark guardian touch down in front of her and held her to her feet.

"Which person was that?"

"Can't you just tell on your own?"

"All you humans look and sound the same to me! Just tell me who it was and where they are!"

Brooke pointed upwards. "It sounds like Victoria. Then again, it may be nothing…"

The ceiling above them gave way and collapsed to the ground. It shattered through the flooring and demolished the beautiful crystal chandelier in one strike. The crystals toppled to the floor with clinking and clanking. Yulee hurriedly pulled the child out of the way as she hurried along the hallway.

It seemed as though the trail of destruction was following her.

She flew past the staircase and into a study. Yulee dropped the girl hard unto her side. She slammed her shoulders into the door and clapped her hands over the walls. In a fail swoop the entire room was engulfed in a brilliant purple aura that stretched and enjoyed freedom as much as a newborn infant. The hands of her shield moved along the room's walls until it was enclosed completely. The two girls, one not human, were left in a room that remained protected from whatever could have been going on outside.

Yulee sighed. She slumped to the ground. A protective barrier like the one that she had just positioned took an awful lot of magical energy to produce. She felt exhausted and wished that she could fall into a deep sleep then and there. But the human in the room seemed to multiply before her eyes. One, darker in colour, removed himself from underneath a desk and another, taller with many pimples, clambered out of a closet.

She was too weak to bother doing anything about the children. Yulee pulled her legs up close to her chin and sank low in her thoughts. She could feel her consciousness pulling away from her. Soon she would be wrapped in a dream and she would not be able to escape it until her magic had returned to her body. Yulee closed her eyes and allowed her thoughts to drain away from her. Slowly, what recent memories she had were lost to her for the moment.

"Excuse me? Miss Monster?"

"It's Yulee."

"Right. Where's the wizard that was with you?"

"Wizard?"

"The tall man. The one as skinny as a skeleton."

"Skeleton…?" Her eyes jerked open and she stared up at the children in horror. "Jack!"

---

Yulee rushed past him. Jack was only about halfway up the staircase now. He was skipping them fast but there was a large gap between the first and second floors. He hurried as quickly as he could, skipping nearly ten steps as he went. When Yulee rushed past, however, he froze in his tracks. Jack stayed there, unable to move.

The destruction that had followed Yulee to the top of the stairs ceased in its chase. The dust in the area enclosed around the stairs and moved in front of his line of vision. Jack was no longer able to see. The world around him was a complete blur and, if something horrible were to happen, he would be powerless to stop it. _If anything happens to those kids… I'll never forgive myself…_

Of course the fact that none of this was truly his fault evaded him. The fact that he was there and the children were in danger was all that he could think about. Yulee was in danger too. If she wasn't she could have used a portal by now to come and get him. They could have dropped the children off and hurried back to Halloween town. But no. Yulee did not come for him, which meant that something was amiss in his world. Yet Jack remained oblivious to what could threaten him, a Halloweenie.

As he looked back up again he found that the dust and grime had not disappeared from his line of vision. Infuriated, Jack hurriedly placed his hands across his chest like a mummy would have. He raised his arms upwards, still crossed, so that his wrists touch to his forehead. From that point he pushed his hands outwards and to the sides. The dust seemed to follow him and it moved to the side so that he could, once more, see.

Although, at the time, Jack wasn't entirely sure that he really wished to see what stood before him.

It was the same boy from the movie theatre. Not the kind one with the blonde hair but the devious looking one with the black hair. Although Jack knew he was trouble he couldn't help but feel as though the child wasn't a true threat to him. He seemed just like a little lost boy, searching for his mother he was. To any person he was merely a young lad who seemed to wish for a home and a warm fire to curl up to.

Jack was near certain that the child couldn't recognize him like that. He was, after all, in a human guise and connecting him to the skeleton that so many had seen in the theatre didn't seem possible. Then again, that child being there didn't seem possible.

The boy cocked his head to the side as he stared at Jack. He smiled slightly. Jack forced a smile back at him but found it difficult. For a strange reason, which seemed to elude him, he found that the child filled him with anger. Jack felt as though he had seen the boy before but he found it impossible to pinpoint where. He felt as though it was from when he had been alive but that didn't seem possible seeing as the boy would have to be more and 200 years old. But if the boy was from that time and had been able to preserve himself through witchcraft or whatnot Jack still wouldn't have been able to remember him completely with his living memories deteriorating so rapidly.

"You want to take it from me?"

"What?" Jack stood on the stairs, confused. He stared up at the boy, wishing to know what it was that he meant. He truly had no clue as to what the poor child was referring to.

"You want to take it from me?" he repeated. "I've worked so hard to earn up such a life as what I have and yet you come and seem to fit what everyone would wish for. It's a good factor that they are all bumbling fools. Otherwise they could have appointed you on the spot had they known about the great power that you hold within your form I must admit that it was hidden quite well. I searched all over the time stream. Even then I couldn't find you. But then, just last year, you appeared in Halloween Town and my blessings became apparent to me."

"Great… Power? Wait. How do you know about Halloween Town?"

"Oh, I know all kinds of things my dear Jack."

"How do you know my name?"

"Like I said, I know a great many things. An awful lot more than you. But unlike you I wasn't so good when it came to my relations. My own subconscious seemed to draw me into the shadows and then you were there. You were like the light. We could have been wondrous friends, you and I, had you not turned your back on me and become the coward that you truly are."

"But, I don't remember you. I don't remember. When did we meet?"

"Ah, yes. The Mind Shatter. It works oh so quickly on you Jack. That only proves once more how powerful you are and why I must do this."

"Do what?" Jack could feel something horrible coming his way.

"Why, destroy you of course." The boy placed a hand on the decorated railing on the staircase. The banister creaked under his weight but he paid little attention to it. "You see, Jack. Your presence in Halloween Town poses a great threat to my plan. If I am to do as I wish with the world then I cannot have someone like you living as a Halloweenie. It couldn't be good for me at all. Now, if you were a ghost, now that could also be a threat. It's possible that you may come back to bite me in the back…"

"People can't come back from being a ghost."

The boy laughed out loud. He seemed to relish the talk with Jack. That fact made him seem more like a child than ever before. He flexed his hands in front of his face. Jack could see small claws protruding from within the flesh beneath his fingernails. "Hmm… I guess most people could believe that to be true. You should consult Yulee about it. Oh wait. You won't be able to do such a thing…"

Jack stepped down a stair.

"Well," the boy said, pulling himself up and off of the railing, "I must regrettably inform you that I have to leave now. There is a long list of things that I am afraid I must attend to and you being here is simply troublesome. No offence Jack. Its just business. Consider this a gift back for the one you gave to me all those years ago…"

"Bu I don't remember!"

The boy shrugged. He stood at the top of the stairs, pushing one foot further away from the other and preparing himself in a traditional duel pose. He blew his long, dark bangs out of his face and smirked at Jack. With his left hand he held his right wrist outwards towards Jack. Blue sparks of light curled up and down his fingers, moving along his arm to the very tips. Jack could clearly see the power in his force.

He turned and attempted to run.

"I don't think so Jack!" The boy hurled his arm backwards and thrust it forwards with all his might. The crack that emanated from that one attack echoed through the building, causing the rafters to shake with unease.

A blue jet of power was thrust forwards, traveling towards Jack with such speed that the skeleton was surprised it didn't slice directly through him. The collision force, however, peeled away at his artificial skin. Jack's bare bone became visible once more. Yet that remained the least of his worries.

He was sent forwards with such force that he came into contact with the wall and crumpled to the floor in a heap. Jack struggled to stay awake. He pushed himself up and off of the ground. His legs seemed unmovable. As he glanced down towards them be found that one of his legs bone had fallen off and lay strew among the wooden boards. His other bone looked to be broken. Where the first could easily be put back on the broken one would need time to heal. But then Jack didn't figure that he had too much time for it to heal. Turning his attention upwards he saw the boy advancing down the staircase towards him.

"Poor, weak Jack. If only you knew of what you could do. I must admit however. I am quite impressed with how little damage you took. If it were anybody else then they would have shattered to pieces. You, one the other hand, merely took some damage to your legs. Very good. For you, of course, not for me. No. Anyways, I feel that its time for you to go Jack."

"I'd rather not actually."

"You have no choice." The child laughed as he stretched his arms to the ceiling. He let out a jet of blue orbs, which coated the wood and seemed to pull it downwards. It was as though gravity was bending to his will. "Good bye Jack. My old friend."

_Old friend?_

The ceiling came down.

Pain engulfed him.

Nothing.

"Jack!"

His eyes jerked open at Yulee's voice. As he looked at his surroundings he discovered that he was completely submerged in the rubble of the house. He felt utterly crushed under it all and yet there he was, able to think. He couldn't talk because of the fact that debris could have fallen into his open mouth but he was able to move his right arm. This proved useful because then he was able to reach over and grip his missing leg.

"There you are!"

A tugging came to the back of his collar and he was pulled into a black mass. It engulfed around his form. He had no hands. He had no arms. He had no body. He was a mere conscious floating amiss in the void that was Yulee's portal world.

Jack felt himself fall to the ground. He fell out of the portal beside Yulee and groaned in pain. His body came back into view, as well as the pain that erupted unto his legs. The skeleton opened his eyes wide, happy that he had them, and stared into the gaping faces of dozens of Halloweenies. He felt uncomfortable being the centre of attention.

Leon appeared beside him. The mummy leaned down to his friend. "The human world can be brutal nowadays I hear. You all right, Jack?"

"Save for the fact that my legs feel as though they are ablaze, yes. Just fine."

Leon smirked slightly.

"What am I? Chop liver?"

Leon and Jack turned their attention to Yulee. She was on the ground, looking more pale than normal. Her face was covered in beads of sweat and her hair was matted down on her head with the wet that covered her. Yulee glared at them both. She clutched her head with one hand and used the other to try and steady herself as she wobbled slightly. "I tell you. If I were quiet you'd never know that I was here."

Jack smiled.

---

Brooke: Oh, a twist. Who _is_ this strange boy? Why _does_ he know Jack? How old _is_ this kid? I wish I could be that old! Anyways, this chapter was based on something that sort of happened to me. Yes, my friends and me were playing in an old mansion close to where I used to live. Yes, two people did appear on our territory. Yes, one was a boy and the other a girl. Yes, the boy was dressed like Jack. Yes, the girl was dressed like Yulee. No, their names were not Jack and Yulee. Their names were actually Charles and Terry; they were two teenagers that I knew from the high school. (Very nice people). Anyways. No, the house did not collapse. No, the strange boy with black hair did not appear. Yes, we were that good at hide-and-go-seek. No, there was no magic involved in the night and, for anyone wondering, yes, we won the game!

Jack: Reviews to speak for! First if from… wait… no new reviews?

Brooke: What? Come on peoples. I haven't updated for a while so that plenty time to review. I don't like to pressure people for reviews but this is ridiculous. I like reading your reviews. Sometimes I even take advice from them to improve on chapters to come… Oh well… Enjoy FanFiction!


	16. Chapter 15

Brooke: In order to understand the strange boy that Jack met in the previous chapters we must take a journey into the past. We must glance 200 years into the past and find the incident where this boy and Jack became related. The current chapter is dedicated to reviewing the past and linking together the strands that separate Jack from this boy. We will see, here, what Jack failed to remember…

**Through The Hollow**

Chapter 15

A single ladybug crawled up the stem of the blade of grass that he eyed. It looked so peaceful there. It was as though the tiny insect had no idea of the turmoil that could unfold in the world at any moment. Instead it merely enjoyed living and flying through the air with its beautiful wings. He laid his body down on the grass and turned his head on its side to better see the insect. He noticed the ladybug stop for a moment. It continued once the blades stopped swaying from his head setting down. He watched it with so much interest. It was a marvellous thing; a ladybug. Not a care in the world.

A voice above him erupted through the silence. It towered high and before he even saw the boy's form and shadow he heard his voice. In deep, hollowing tones, the boy said:

"Ladybug, Ladybug,

Fly away home,

Your house is on fire,

Your children alone,"

Simultaneously the insect allowed its wings to expand outwards. It fluttered into the breeze and was instantly snatched up by a pink hand. Thomas Hill closed his hand tightly on the poor insect. The squishing sound was relished in his horrible, boyish mind. He opened his hand and looked at what was left of the creature. "Ew," he declared, turning to his friends, "I gots ladybugs all over m'hand. Sats just gross."

The boys that had gathered in the area laughed with delight at the squashed ladybug that was all over Tom's hand. They much enjoyed seeing something like that. Yet there was one boy, the one who had been watching the insect, who did not enjoy such an act at all.

Jack stood up, pulling into a straightforward and tough position. He eyed Thomas's head, or at least the back of it, with anger. One of the boys become aware of this and nudged the boy along side him. They each pointed behind Thomas. He looked around to see the blonde boy's horrible gazing eye. Tom seemed to flinch a moment before he tried to make himself as high up as possible and as menacing as he could in the eyes of his enemy.

"What s'rong lil Jack? Upset tat'I killed ur ladybug?"

"I'm very much upset. Why did you do that?"

"'Cause I'ma higher on sa food chain. I gets to kill bugs alls I wants."

"It's not a bug. It's an insect."

"Are yous calling me dumb?" Tom rushed forwards and drove the top of his head under Jack's chin. He fell backwards, though, when Jack retaliated and punched him in the gut. Thomas stumbled backwards, holding his stomach with visible pain written across his face. He coughed slightly and then looked back to Jack. "Fine Jack. You wins th'time. But'll be back en'll have more friends't."

Suddenly Thomas was knocked over from the side. A black blur swept past Jack's line of vision and rammed directly into Tom's side. The blonde boy's enemy fell backwards again, his hair falling in his face. He toppled onto his side and called out in pain. When he looked up there was a new boy where there had not been one before. This new player in their horribly violent game was fairly tall, taller than Jack even. He had hair black as the night and eye so dark they could have pierced through someone's mind. It was hard to tell if there was a colour other than black or white. He had a black outfit on, consisting of a shirt and pants, but they seemed to be far too large for his skinny form. There was a red stripe across the chest. He looked brilliant. Truly, he would have been the envy of all the girls in the village. Seated on top of his head was a smart-looking, straw hat that tipped backwards so that his face was visible.

The boy outstretched his hand to Tom. "Terribly sorry about that," he said in a harsh tone. "Didn't see you there. My fault entirely. I do hope you can forgive me."

Tom took his hand and held it tight as he could, trying to hurt the boy. "Yous beta watch where ur goin! Yous knocked ma down en'll get mad if'n yous do that again…"

The boy helped Tom to his feet but he didn't stop there. Instead he twisted his arm around once he was in a standing position and thrust him around. Now Tom's arm was over, behind his head and he was trying to break free, only causing more pain to himself. The boy that held him looked quite pleased with what he had just done. He smiled to himself, quite wickedly mind you.

Jack leaned a little bit to the right. "Um…"

The boy noticed him out of the corner of his eye. He turned, Tom still held in his grasp next to him. "Terribly sorry about that. It's quite nice to meet you. My name is Kris." He did a little bow, forcing Tom to do so as well. "Did I intrude on your fight? If so I'm even more sorry. Would you like him back?" Kris readied Tom to be pushed forwards towards Jack.

"No, no. That's ok. You can just let him go I think."

"Let him go?" Kris looked temporarily confused. "Well what fun would there be in letting him go? Isn't it more fun to play with them a little bit?"

"That's not nice."

"Nice? He didn't seem very nice to you."

"That doesn't mean he deserves to be hurt like that."

Kris took this into consideration. He rubbed his chin with one hand, the other keeping Tom's arms securely locked behind his head. Tom struggled, hoping that he could get out. But, sadly, Kris was a little bit better than him when it came to this sort of thing. Kris looked back to Jack, a smile on his face. "I like you. You seem to know what you're talking about." He tossed Tom forwards into the riverbed.

The boy spluttered a bit and then sat up, glaring at Kris. Tom clambered out of the bed, soaked to the bone. He shook his hands and his arms hard at the ground and then turned around. He whispered a slight: "You'll pay for that…" behind him.

Kris raised a brow in his direction. "I will? When? I did so enjoy quarrelling with you. When will we get to do so again?"

Tom's shoulders hunched. He said naught a word as he ran back to the village. If he had been a dog his head would have been down, his tail between his legs. Jack watched him go, quite pleased with Kris, despite his irregular ways of teaching lessons.

Kris smiled and turned back to Jack. "I'm sorry, I don't believe I got your name."

"Oh, sorry. I'm Jack. Jack Skellington."

"What a marvellous name." Kris extended his hand towards the blonde-haired boy. "I, my dear boy, am Kris Summers of the neighbouring village."

Jack took his hand, "pleasure to meet you Kris."

"Say," he said letting go. "How would you like to join me and a friend on the island just off shore? It'll be a great spot of fun, Jack. Wouldn't you like to come? We'll have so much tales to tell afterwards. We could become pirates and sail around the shore. Or be Indians and chase the rapscallions out of our land. Won't you join us Jack?"

"How would we get to the island?"

"Well, my boat of course. I made it last summer. Could stand up against the roughest storms, it could. You just wait and see. It's a wonderful boat."

"Ok then. I suppose that I could come. I reckon I'll have to tell Auntie Marie about it first though." Jack turned, ready to go back to the village and tell his Aunt where he would be. The prospect of being a pirate made him feel quite good and he was eager to tell her and be off with a good load of food and a smile blemishing his pale face. But Kris didn't let him go. No, Kris held his arm back so that Jack was stopped in his tracks and looked back to him. "What's wrong Kris?"

"You don't tell your Aunt where you're going when you're a pirate."

"You don't?"

"Course not! Pirates don't care! Come on Jack. I have a much better idea. What if we make it so that your Auntie loses all hope and thinks you for dead? Then after a few months of being on the island, we'll come back and she'll be so happy to see you! You'll get a lot of respect in the village after this. Don't you want respect Jack? You don't get enough as it is."

"How do you know that?"

"I've been around a lot. Seen you in more than one quarrel with the boys over there. So? What d'ya say, Jack? Want to come and be a pirate with us?"

He went silent and starred at him feet.

"Come on Jack. It wouldn't be fun without you."

Jack's foot scuffed against a near by stone as he thought about it…

---

"Auntie Marie's not going to be very proud of me when I return…" Jack watched as the water beneath the raft ebbed and flowed with the changing winds around them. Kris was standing up, leaning against a pole that stood in the centre of the boat. Jack wouldn't really call it was boat though. The object that he was currently seated on was defiantly a raft. He was sure of it. There were no walls to keep the water out so his bottom was severely soaked, and there was no tarp to keep the rain off.

The downpour had started up a little while after they had set off from the shore. It was as thought god was trying to tell Jack that what he was doing was a horrible thing. Jack knew that it was, truly he did, but he would have given anything to gain the respect of his peers. He was stronger than all of them, more responsible, and a better student. Surely that should have entitled him to the respect that he wanted. But no, he'd stood out like a sore thumb his whole life.

It could have been for the fact that he was the only blonde boy in the village. It could have been for the fact that he was the only smart boy in the village. Heck, it could have even been for the fact that the prettiest girl had a love harbouring in his direction. Whatever the reason was he was singled out from the group and left to his books and his insects.

Kris smiled down at him, the ore in his hand. The boy's hair was matted to his forehead yet he smiled nonetheless. Jack could see his shaking plain as the daylights and yet Kris still smiled at him as though there was nothing the matter. "Don't you worry about your old Auntie. I'm sure she'll realize that you're off, just having fun. Every boy does it."

"Not me. I'm too busy studying."

Kris raised a brow at Jack and leaned down, the ore still in his hand, stroking against the currents, pushing them towards the island. "Now why would that be Jack? I'll admit I love books as much as any old bookworm but what's the point in having no adventures of your own? You can read about them all the time and yet when it comes down to it you never go off on any of your own. I do. So do my friends, mind you they can't read. I have to do it for them. But still." He stood up and pushed harder. "It's nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air. Ain't it, Jack?"

He nodded but said nothing. The poor lad was shivering all over now. He had his knees tucked up to his chin and he was cold as the ice in winter. But he said nothing to his friend. Giving in to the temperature, to the boys in the village, was a sign that you were weak. 'Any _man_ can withstand the cold and not complain. Any _man_ can withstand a hot day and not be wishful for water by his lady.' That is what they said all the time. Jack sighed and buried his face in his knees.

Kris starred down at him. "You cold, Jack?"

His head bolted up so suddenly that he smashed it into the pole. Kris wobbled a little bit but was able to steady himself before he fell off. Kris smiled down at Jack once he was steady. Then he repeated the question. Jack looked at his wriggling toes. "Maybe… Maybe just a little bit."

Kris' smiled widened. "Why don't you go below deck? I can keep the water at bay and make it to the island on my own."

"Below deck?"

"Sure!" Kris knelt down. He pulled on the bottom of the pole and, to Jack's surprise, it came out of its place with such ease that Kris was even able to push it to the side and allow it to titter on the edge of the raft. A hole was where the pole had once been. It would have been the first thought to think that the water covered the area underneath the hole but no. Instead there was a small, dry, cozy looking room. A pile of blankets was in the corner with jars of different things all on the shelves. Many had fallen off, however. The walls of the room were near covered in some sort of substance that had hardened and made it near impossible for the water to get in. Kris smiled at him. "Why don't you go down and get yourself cozy, Jack? I'll be fine up here on my own. You go down and get warm."

Needless to say Jack didn't hesitate a moment in going into the bowels of the raft. Now he understood why it was that Kris had called it a boat. To Jack, it looked like one from below. He took hold of one of the thickest blankets in the pile and hurriedly wrapped it around himself. Jack then sat there, below deck, warming his body up. He listened to the quiet lapping of water against the side of the boat. It was a pleasant sound to his ears. Very pleasant indeed.

But he sighed and frowned nonetheless. _I don't see why Kris couldn't have told me about this before I got soaked…_

"You didn't ask me," came Kris' voice.

Jack seemed a little bit surprised. _I didn't say that out loud… Did I?_

That time Kris didn't respond. Jack was confident that he had, indeed, said it aloud the first time round. But now he was alone with his mind and he was content with that.

As the waves lapped against the boat it rocked and, slowly, Jack was rocked into a dreamless sleep…

---

"Hello? Are you awake, boy?" The voice was very sweet. A very nice voice indeed. It made him wish that he could sink back into a wondrous dream, only that voice to keep him company. But he did so feel compelled to know whom the voice truly belonged to. It was such a nice voice, a girl's perhaps as well, and he wanted to know who's it was so very badly.

Jack let his eyes open a touch. He couldn't see much at first; only a light that shone right through and blinded him instantly. He lifted his hands up and rubbed his eyes to relieve the tension of the new light. Jack sighed and opened his eyes once more; hopeful that he would not have to close them again. He glanced upwards, finding that his body was lying down on something very soft and grainy. It was sand, it was.

Jack looked upwards and into a pair of bright red eyes. At first eh thought that it was a monster. Jack leapt instantly and clambered away as best as he could. But he tripped into something and ended up in a large hole. He rubbed his head after he finished tumbling down and looked to the rim.

A small, pale face appeared and looked down at him. That small face held those red eyes that had startled him so. The head had long locks of black hair so dark that it was like the night itself. The face definitely belonged to a girl but she had a little fang protruding from her mouth when she looked down at him. It came out from her lip and pointed upwards towards her left eye. For a moment he thought that it was just a tooth gone about in her mouth wrongly but when she leapt over the side and slid down to him he noticed that she had claws at the ends of her hands and feet. That set him off. Jack tried to scramble away as the girl landed down. She tumbled a bit and he sort of laughed. But he quickly stopped when she looked at him with one brow raised.

"What h-have you d-done to K-Kris?" he stammered out.

The creature cocked its head to him but neared a little bit closer. Jack tried to get out of the hole but the walls were made of sand and he could not. The thing was getting nearer and nearer to him and yet he could not escape. Jack turned around; clawing at whatever he could get his long fingers around. Jack tore at some sand but it provided him with minimal support. He fell backwards, so close to the beast as it crawled closer to him. Jack began to panic. He grabbed at a root and it was torn right out of the sand, causing Jack to fall backwards again. This time though, he landed right between the creature's arms and it looked down at him curiously. Her black hair was brushing up against his face ever so much. Jack couldn't help it.

He sneezed.

The 'girl' leapt back so suddenly that she did an entire flip and ended up on her belly once more. Jack sat up where he was. But this time he didn't move. That reality was that if his sneeze was enough to knock this creature around in surprise he didn't see how it could really be dangerous. Jack watched as she stood up and shook the sand from her body like a dog would have water.

"Jack! There you are." He looked up and met eyes with Kris. "I was wondering where you got off to." Kris looked from Jack to the girl. His eyes went wide and his mouth sank down on his face. "My, my. Good for you Jack. You found the island guardian!"

At Kris' sudden outburst of enthusiasm the girl fell backwards again. She clambered along the sand, nearing close to Jack. When her hand made contact with his bare foot her head whipped back so fast that he was barely able to see her face before it disappeared. Jack coughed as the black smoke cleared. Then he looked back up to Kris who was sighing and holding one elbow in the other.

"Pity. I was so hoping to have a conversation with her. She seems like the most interesting girl, don't you think so?"

Jack merely nodded his head.

"Oh! I'm sorry. You can't get out. Here…" Kris tossed down a ladder fashioned from old vines and wood pealed from near by trees. Jack could see them. "Oliver and I made this for if we had to go down and retrieve some more black sand. Well, come on up Jack. Come on up and meet Oliver Bless."

Jack took hold of the ladder and began to climb. All the while one thought was going through his mind. _Island guardian… definitely the most interesting girl I've ever seen before…_

---

"Pleasure to meet you Jack." Oliver held out a grubby looking hand towards him. Jack took it, though hesitant, and shook. Oliver wasn't a very skinny boy but he wasn't fat either. He was… chubby. Oliver had brown hair that fell in front of his face but he pushed it back every single time so that it was resting neatly. It sort of made him look more and more like the pirates of old that Jack had read so much about. Oliver Bless had a pair of old brown slacks on and a plain white shirt, like each of them there. He had a long mouth, small ears and a very small nose. In fact, if you were to look at him a few meters away then you would think that he had no nose at all. He wasn't a very clean boy. Oliver had a face covered in dirt and hands so filthy that Jack had to rub his hands on his trousers just because of that.

Kris patted Oliver lightly on the shoulder and turned to Jack. "Oliver's been my friend for years Jack. Maybe forever. It was on this very island that we met. We were only young tots then."

"Speaking of which… Can I--?"

"No."

"But you brought Jack over!"

"Yes, but only because Jack's a friend. You'd only bring over boys to gamble your heart out. It's quite pathetic really. You have to get rid of that horrible habit."

"Gambling's not a bag habit. I love it."

"Yes, and I'm sure that one day, if I'm not there to stop you, you'll set up your very out place for gambling. It's really bad of you Oliver. What'll god think when he looks down and sees it?"

"He'll wish that he was down here having a good time."

"Now, now, Oliver. Don't be saying bad things about the lord. 'Tis a horrible sin."

"No it isn't!"

Jack sighed.

---

The day progressed nice and slowly. It was a good amount of time for the boys to enjoy a fun day of frolicking on the plentiful island. There was much vegetation to be found about and there were trees galore to hide up in or behind. It was a great amount of fun playing hide-and-go-seek when they went into the woods. The trees were very tall and so were wonderful when the boys decided to have contest on climbing trees. It wasn't a real surprise that Jack won, being much taller than the other made it only inevitable.

The boys had a great amount of fun playing in the boat. They brought it ashore at one point and then played in it for hours on end, pretending to be hiding from the men that wished to turn them in for being pirates. Then they sailed around the crescent shape of the island as though they actually _were _pirates. Kris proclaimed himself the captain, seeing as it was his ship, Jack as his right hand man and Oliver as the cannon boy. Now Oliver greatly enjoyed that privilege.

Afterwards, when their thirst for gold had been quenched and their lust for power had ended, they pretended to be Indians. The boys rushed through the forest, collecting twigs and whatnot to create their wigwams and tepees. Needless to say, with the lack of proper rope they weren't able to make very convincing forts. Night was nearing so the boys tore down the wigwams they had worked so hard on and tossed the remnants onto a large fire that Oliver had created.

Kris pulled out some of the jars that he had with him. Jack was given one to try; it contained a great amount of juicy peaches that had been mashed together to preserve flavour. Oliver was given a jar of dried meats. There was an assortment, varying from lamb to bovine and pork. Then Kris gave himself a good jar of something that neither of them had ever heard of. He called it a gift from another world. Both Jack and Oliver were eager to try it but each time they reached for the strange blackened food Kris pulled it away and wagged his finger at them. Apparently this food was made especially for him and he wasn't allowed to share it. Jack found that to be ridiculous but kept his mouth shut. Oliver progressed much longer than him, eventually having to give up after Kris had pulled his hand behind his back so that he could no longer move. Soon the boys were lying close to the fire, the leaves beneath them, the stars above them and their food within them.

Jack smiled. "I must say, it's been a good day. I can't remember when I played with someone for so long."

"Yeah," said Oliver, grinning at the sky. "So Jack. You were like an outcast in your village?"

He nodded.

"Hmm… Same with me. No mother in that god-forsaken place liked my gambling with the other boys. Said it poisoned the mind of a good child."

"Tut, tut, now Oliver," said Kris, turning to his friend. "There will be no fowl language against the one to which gave us our life. Why, he'd smite you down if you weren't careful. You speak so badly about him I wouldn't be surprised if you were struck down in the next storm. Nope. Wouldn't surprise me at all."

"Well it wouldn't surprise me if you grew up to be a bad, bad man, Kris."

"A bad man? Me? Perish the thought my dear fellow."

Oliver sat up and glared at him. "You know what I'm talking about you fox. You complain about my fowl mouth. What about _your_ bad habits? I never see you pray, let alone pray for forgiveness."

Jack sat up. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, Kris had a tendency to expose secrets. He'd ramble about children all over the village. Some of it would be true and some of it wouldn't. But if anyone had a secret he would know about it and no one knows how. Sometimes he'd know of pregnancies before the woman who carried the child realised it. One time he was even able to tell an old lady the exact date that she would die! It's a creepy thing, Jack. A very creep thing."

Kris laughed out loud and rubbed his nails against his shirt. Then he admired them, smiling the whole time. "What can I say? 'Tis a gift from god."

"A very scary gift mind you."

"You wouldn't happen to know much about me, now, would you?" Jack looked a little bit anxious to know if he did or not.

"Course I do my dear boy. I know all about you and your little problem with friends. I also know about how Elizabeth from down the road likes you. My, that's a fine girl right there. Not as fine as the Island Guardian but lovely nonetheless. Smart mind too. Very good in these times."

"How do you know so much?"

Kris tapped his head. "I told you my friend. 'Tis a gift from god himself. Nothing more, nothing less."

Jack raised a brow but didn't say anything more. He sat back, resting his arms behind his head for a good pillow. He had been having such a good time on the island so far. It was a nice thing to be with friends. He hadn't had any in so long. Jack wondered if he had even had friends, ever. Well, of course there had been his stranger friends but by this time in his life he had considered them to be nothing more than imaginary and not real. Jack sighed and turned his head. "Have either of you ever had an imaginary friend?"

"I have one," said Oliver. "I named him Boogie because he loved to dance. He'd always urge me on towards near by girls. But he was never any help once I actually got up to them. They didn't like how he tried to pick them up. He was like a grown up, you know? Always doing what adolescents would do. It was sort of bothersome."

"I haven't had one. The one that I knew was a real monster." Kris smiled. "He was real nice. Helped me build the ship, he did."

"Sure Kris." Oliver laughed.

"I'm not pulling at you. How do you think I got all of that stuff in my ship? How do you think I got it to balance on the water so nicely? How do you think I made a lower deck without having it leak through?" Oliver went blank at that and he and Jack turned to Kris' smiling face. "You see. I'm telling you the truth. Met him out in the woods one day, I did. He was just climbing out of a tree when I saw him. He tried to scare me, he did. But I wasn't scared at all. Nope. I looked him in the eye and asked who he was. Then he told me he was from a dark old town that was in the base of the tree. But humans can't go there. Nope. That journey isn't good for them."

"Was there a pumpkin hole cut into the bark? Was the tree hollow?"

Kris and Oliver looked a little bit surprised at Jack's outburst. He'd been so quiet all day. But now he was being so demanding of the answers to his questions. They could just hear it in his voice. Jack caught their stares and hung his head low. He leaned back down and said:

"Sorry, please continue."

"Actually Jack. You're right. The tree _was_ hollow and there _was_ a pumpkin hole in it. That's the hole that he came out of. How'd you know?"

"I had some werewolves for friends. I always thought that they were imaginary. But, with what you just said, I now know that they weren't." Jack smiled to himself as he looked to the sky. He was eager to sleep now. He was eager to dream of that nice girl that he had seen before. The Island Guardian. Jack closed his eyes.

The other boys didn't even push with their questions. No, they let him sleep. He did look awfully tired after eating and playing for all day. So Oliver and Kris lie down as well and let their eyes close, obscuring the space where the night had once been.

Soon the three boys were fast asleep, dreaming of the days to come and the monsters they were to meet.

---

Brooke: Finally! I got it done! Finally! That took me a while, you know. Sorry that it took so long to update. Hmm… How long did it take? One… Two… Wow, 9 days… OMG! That's way too long! Ahh!! (Dies.)… Anyways, I have a review to answer to. Jack, would you please read who it's from?

Jack: Sure… Let's see… This review is sent to us from Griffon's Flight.

Brooke: Yeah, that happened to me. I've got a pretty mixed up childhood, I lived down by the beaches up until I was 7 so I'd always be bored and I'd always be looking for something to do. Needless to say, sneaking out of the house and going into dangerous places at dangerous times was the best.


	17. Chapter 16

**Through the Hollow**

Chapter 16

The musty smell of rotting corpses, long past their mark of rigor mortis and stretching gloriously into the dawn of insect claims towards the carcasses, was pleasant and welcoming after the adventure prior. A tiring event such as that left much to be thought about, particularly about the past. Such wonderful mysteries to behold in such a dark crevasse of the conscious. So dark in fact that a mysterious past takes on the call of the seven deadly sins, masking itself with a visor in the shape commonly know as 'sloth'. Worthy as adversary as it was to the curious conscious; the chains of memories could always be linked once more. Nothing was for certain anymore, in this strange new world of untold chaos and fear; no chain's metal is too rusted beyond repair.

And he knew it.

Merciless as the sun was, pouring rays of heat down unto his bones and furthering the decay of flash, Jack continued to toil away at his work, simply determined to finish. The only problem set before him, really, was the heat. Even without skin or organs or even a brain (he'd reached inside one of his eye sockets one night to discover that he no longer had one occupying that space) the temperature still made an impact on him. He'd even sweat. That surprised him an awful lot the first time it happened.

The dreams that he had experienced the night before, dreams of his life, the boys and the island, only made him want to dive further into the past. He wanted to know everything. He wanted to recall the adventures that he and his friends would have gone on, being children of exploring personalities. However, the question still arose to him when he looked back over and over again.

What did it mean?

Jack worked his way to the grave, pulling out shovel after shovel of soil for the mound. Eventually reaching the casket that sat below the surface, the skeleton leaned down and pulled hard one the lid. But, much to his astonishment, the wooden lid did not move, nor did it even feel loose. In fact, the coffin itself looked fresh and the soil around the grave had been disturbed when he'd arrived.

His curiosity peeked, Jack placed his long legs on either side of the grave, just on the topmost soil. Then, leaning in and placing his hands on both sides of the covering, he took in several breaths, still confused as to why he would need to breathe when he had no lungs. With a tremendous amount of force, which actually turned out not to be needed at all, Jack heaved and pulled on the casing.

The lid exploded outwards as he pulled, a forced effort from with the coffin!

Jack was sent flying. He flew backwards, not only from the coffin occupant's heave but also with the backlash of his own strength. He flipped back, legs placed in the same spot, and crashed hard on the mound of soil, which really should have cushioned his fall but did little to aid him.

Groaning ensued from within the casket.

The skeleton raised his skull off of the topsoil and peered ahead, unable to see into the actual coffin. So, with spectacular speed and agility, Jack used the length of his new arms and legs to spin him an astounding 180 degrees in a single fluid motion. It was then that he gripped the edges of the hole he'd dug and pulled his face up to the rim. What he saw inside shocked him completely and his empty eye sockets blinked in their unnatural way when he became confused at times.

There, sitting upwards in the coffin, his dark hair, completely out of state, turning slightly gray on either side, was a man he had never before expected to see again. The spiffy-looking tuxedo that the man was dressed in showed that he had had either great wealth of wondrous connections during his lifetime on Earth. The man's chiseled features struck the other corpses with envy, or they would have, would the other corpses actually see them. It was as though he'd only laid in fir a nap, and had woken up dead, in this dead land that Jack currently occupied, completely untouched by the typical early stages of rigor mortis. The shirt lapel was crowned with a glorious golden pin in the symbol of an eye, the lids holding the pupil in place, as there was no eyeball to behold underneath. The clarity of the man's voice was simply astounding. Not at first, mind you, but after several coughs and a tap to the chest, the man's lungs spat up dust and a sound that resembled the voice of a man in his late thirties was discovered. He blinked charcoal out of his eyes and looked up and out of the casket.

Jack's head was in his line of vision.

An eerie silence ensued between the two of them for, what seemed like, eternity.

"Ohs… Ohs mys god!!" The man screamed, leaping to his feet and backing up against the very back of the hole. He desperately searched for something, anything, to use to pull himself out of the hole and get away from the creature set before him. However, the entire hold had been dug in specifications to Jack's body. His extensively long arms allowed him to pull himself out with ease. This man, with his normal (or small in comparison to Jack) arms, stood no chance for the high walls set to block his path.

Jack stood up.

His sheer height seemed to frighten the man even more. He screamed as Jack's silhouette was reflected in the sunlight behind him. And in this special lighting, Jack's entire body appeared dark as night to the poor man, while the skeleton's eye were illuminated like a moon an it's double during a cold winter evening.

"No! Ohs I knew s'it! Ima gone straight t'hell! 'Aven't I?" he asked no one in particular. Before Jack could respond, the man began to talk to himself. "I done too much bad ins my life! Too much! Now s'I'll pay fors it fors all eternities!" He began to weep. "Lies n' cheats n' steals n' I expects t'go t'a better place! What s'a fool I been!"

Jack raised the bone where his brow should have been. The man looked up at him, noticing this action on his part. He hurriedly wiped away his tears, starring up at Jack with horrified eyes and the most solemn look that he could really muster. Jack merely glanced back down at him, unsure of what he should really say at this point. If anything, he didn't suspect him of being the man he'd known. He talked differently.

"A'yous here to s'take me away?" The man raised his hand up, holding back what tears that he could. But slim trickles continued to run down his cheeks. His line of vision was blurry now. "A'right. I'ma go nice n' quiet like, kay? I'na gonna fight backs." He crossed his heart with a finger. "Cross'm meh hearts n' swear deaths."

"Actually," Jack said, speaking for the first time since the man had blown off the casket lid. "I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to do at this point… I mean… I've never encountered someone who was still alive down here before."

His head shot up like a bullet when Jack said that single word. "Alive? I's alive!?"

"…I… I think so."

"Sen, what s'I doin here?"

"I'm not quiet sure about that."

The man's smile faded. He stared up at Jack, lowering his arm and slumping his shoulders. "Y'know… Yous a horrible Grim Reapers."

"What?" Jack couldn't help but laugh. He bent low, clapping his knees with his long bony fingers and laughing until his rib cage hurt him. Then he pushed away two tears, one from each eye, and, still giggling to himself, stood as straight as he could. He turned back and looked down at the man. "Me? The Grim Reaper? I don't think I would have the nerve to do something like that. Personally, people think I'm a little too much for a gentleman for my own good. I mean…" He shrugged. "I guess I can scare people pretty well but… To kill them?" Jack shook his head. "Don't think I could ever intentionally do that."

"Ohs…"

"Ohs is right," mumbled the skeleton. "Do you need some help out?"

"You s'won't bites meh hand, will s'you?"

"Even if I did, I doubt that it would hurt." Jack extended a long bony arm, reaching his hand out, palm facing up, for the man to take. Though he seemed quite hesitant at first, it might have been Jack's kind, sincere smile that convinced him that he wouldn't die for real if he just took his hand. So he gripped the cold, clammy bone and was instantly lifted out of the casket and the hole.

Setting him down on the ground next to the topsoil that Jack was standing on, the skeleton lightly brushed some dirt off of the man's shoulders. It was too nice of a tuxedo to ruin with filth from a false gravesite. Then he scratched the back of his head, wondering what to do next.

Picked up his clipboard, first, Jack jotted down a couple notes on the grave he'd just dug up. He looked at the form he was supposed to fill out for the corpse. He put the pencil in his mouth a moment and then turned back, glancing at the man a moment. Then he took the pencil out again and tapped it against the top, metal portion of the board. He decided that it was a good idea to continue with his work. He couldn't very well stop now, but he'd been working fairly hard and he only had one more grave to dig after this one. Jack though it would be best if he asked for the man's information, filled the hole and began on the last of the day. Then he could take him to Leon or the mayor and ask what should be done. Hopefully, they wouldn't kill him to ensure that he became a true part of Halloween town, like everyone else.

Jack looked at him once more. "Okay… I have a couple tidbits of information I need from you, is that all right?"

He nodded his head.

"Great! First question… Age?"

"27."

"Good… good… um… Residence upon death?"

"Claymore Village."

Jack's head popped up. "Really? You're from Claymore?" The man merely nodded. "Oh! I think you and I shall get along quite nicely! I was also from Claymore… Well… When I was alive, 200 years ago." He smiled as he looked down at the board again, scribbling the answer. "I can't wait to hear how the Village changed during my absence. Too bad I couldn't have died at an older age. Oh well… um… next question… Surname?"

"Huh?"

"Your last name."

"Ohs! I knew sat… Well."

"Mm? You must be related to someone I once knew. I knew a Thomas Well once."

"Sat's mah name! Thomas Joseph Well."

"Oh? What an odd… coincidence… uh…" Jack felt a bead of sweat on his face. "Y-year of death?"

"1763."

Jack's head shot up as quickly as Tom's had. He stared down at the timid man set before him. It all fit now. Thomas Joseph Well, of Claymore Village, died at the age of 27 in the year 1763. Jack David Skellington, of Claymore Village, died at the age of 20 in the year 1756. The Thomas that Jack had known during his own lifetime was the Thomas that he was speaking to at this very moment. The very _same_ Thomas who had… stabbed him…

"Oi… Yous okay?" asked Thomas, hands in his pockets now. "Yous look pale…" It was only after saying that did he realize that Jack was supposed to be pale (being a skeleton and all). "Ohs… wait… I's meant… wells, y'know."

"You know what Thomas? I don't know…" Jack reached down, gripping Tom from the collar of the tuxedo that he'd, previously, wanted to keep intact for him. The skeleton lifted him off of the ground about 2 feet, holding that place with a single hand, not even budging he was so full of anger towards him. "Why don't you explain it for me?"

"GAH! What sa hecks! Yous said yous not goin ta hurt meh!"

"Things change, _Thomas Well_!" Jack was screaming now. "Like things changed for me! All those years ago! When you _stabbed_ me!"

"What? I's neva seen yous before! I neva stabbed no skeleton in meh life!"

"No? Then do you remember the jealousy that you held towards me during my lifetime? Do you remember how you would taunt me? Because I was paler than you! Because I enjoyed playing with insects and animals more than I did other people! Because I was smart and wouldn't allow anyone to copy from my work during school days or on tests! Because you couldn't take that fact that I seemed to have everything that you wanted!? Do you remember any of _that_ Thomas?" When he didn't answer, Jack felt betrayed, like his death had had no impact on this man's conscious. He pursued. "Let me spell it out so that your mind can comprehend the magnitude of your crime… Do you recall one dark night, after the burning of a witch? There was a man, only just turned twenty, in a hospital shack, receiving treatment for a head injury. It was at this time that you walked into the room and spoke to him. In the middle of this conversation you took a dagger and plunged it into this man's chest and sent him on a path that could only end in death. Do you remember his name?"

Thomas gasped for air. He chocked out the answer as best as he could. "J-J-Jack! His name was Jack! Jack Skellington! His name… was…" Thomas opened his eyes and looked at the person holding him up so high. "N-no ways… Jack?"

"… Hello Thomas…" Jack's anger seemed to fade the very minute Tom said his name. "It's good to see you again… Even under the circumstances…" Then he set him back onto the ground. Straightening his collar once more after Thomas caught his breath.

"W-what happened ta yous? Yous look… uh… diff'rent…"

Jack looked at his arms and chest. "Really? Hadn't noticed." He sighed. "I guess I sort of… rotted away when I was buried in the ground like that."

"N'… n' I's done sis to yous?"

Jack nodded.

"… Wow…" Tom scratched his head. "N' I sough yous skinny b'fore… Se girlies back home wouldn't b'lieve sis if sey's seen it semselves…"

Jack smiled lightly.

---

Brooke: BOO! Haha, scared you. Yup, a brand new chapter. I actually would have had this up sooner but I wrote it in a book that doesn't really enjoy opening for long periods of time so I had trouble copying it onto the computer, plus, I couldn't read half of my horribly messy writing. So, anyways, here's the chapter. Hope you like it. :)


End file.
